Mobile device marketing and advertising platforms, methods, and systems

ABSTRACT

A mobile marketing campaign platform and method including: a planning module including: a definition module for setting budget and objectives; and a design module for designing the campaign utilizing a plurality of templates; an execution module including: design tools for designing an executable campaign from the campaign design made from the templates; and operating tools for causing the executable campaign to execute over multiple mobile services; and a reporting module including: tracking means for tracking at least one of a campaign activity, the campaign performance objectives; and the brand performance objectives.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional patentapplication No. 60/958,742 filed Jul. 9, 2007, and U.S. Non-provisionalpatent application Ser. No. 12/170,051 filed Jul. 9, 2008, the entiredisclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to methods, a platform, apparatus, and systemsfor marketing and advertising to mobile devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The role of advertising in the world of business has always beenessential to the sale and development of products. As times havechanged, so too has the business of advertising. Unfortunately, much ofthe business of advertising is not automated or tailored for use withmodern modes of communication and content viewing.

Specifically, the process of developing an ad campaign focused on mobiledevices is costly and often difficult to evaluate from a cost benefitanalysis perspective. As a result, a need exists for novel approachesrelating to mobile device marketing and advertising.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention include a mobile marketing campaignplatform comprising a planning module having a definition module forsetting budget and objectives and a design module for designing thecampaign utilizing a plurality of templates. The platform also includesan execution module comprising design tools for designing an executablecampaign from the campaign design made from the templates and operatingtools for causing the executable campaign to execute over a mobileservice. A reporting module is also included having a tracking modulefor tracking at least one of a campaign activity, campaign performanceobjectives and brand performance objectives. The brand is a feature ofthe campaign. Further aspects of the embodiment include a state machinerepresentation for the execution of the activities and a personalizationengine configured to receive and filter profile information.

Another embodiment of the invention includes a mobile marketing campaignmethod comprising the steps of planning a campaign by defining a budgetand objectives and designing the campaign utilizing a plurality oftemplates. The campaign is executed by designing an executable campaignfrom the campaign design made from the templates and causing theexecutable campaign to execute over a mobile service. The results of thecampaign are reported by tracking at least one of a campaign activity,the campaign performance objectives and the brand performanceobjectives, wherein the brand is a feature of the campaign. Anadditional feature of the method includes collecting and filteringprofile information and directing the executable campaign to an audiencebased upon the profile information.

Yet another embodiment of the invention includes a mobile devicecampaign based advertising system having a user interface that links toa planning module and an execution module. The planning module includesa definition module for setting budget and objectives and a designmodule for designing the campaign utilizing a plurality of templates.The execution module includes design tools for designing an executablecampaign from the campaign design made from the templates and operatingtools for causing the executable campaign to execute over a mobileservice. The executable campaign comprises a plurality of activities,wherein execution of each activity is performed using a state machinerepresentation.

Another embodiment includes a mobile marketing campaign platformcomprising a planning module having a definition module for settingbudget and objectives and a design module for designing the campaignutilizing a plurality of templates. The platform also includes anexecution module comprising design tools for designing an executablecampaign from the campaign design made from the templates and operatingtools for causing the executable campaign to execute over a mobileservice. Additional aspects of the embodiment include a community moduleassociated with the executable campaign in which the community providesa forum to a user community for additional content related to thecampaign. The community may include a segment of members targeted by thecampaign. The platform may also include a broadcast module configured totransmit a data set to members of the user community.

Another embodiment of the invention includes a mobile marketing campaignmethod comprising the steps of planning a campaign by defining a budgetand objectives and designing the campaign utilizing a plurality oftemplates. The campaign is executed by designing an executable campaignfrom the campaign design made from the templates and broadcastingelements of the executable campaign to a plurality of users forming acommunity.

One embodiment of the invention includes a method for reserving atransaction comprising the steps of offering a transaction over a mobiledevice communication link using a mobile marketing device platform,receiving a response to the offer of the transaction by way of themobile communication device link, generating a scannable identifier as aconfirmation of receiving the response to the offer, and wirelesslytransmitting the scanable identifier over the mobile communicationdevice link for processing by a decoding device as proof ofconfirmation. Additional aspects of the embodiment include the offeredtransaction being the sale of a product or a sale of tickets to anevent. According to another feature, the response to the offeredtransaction is the purchase of a product or service, or the purchase oftickets to an event. The scanable identifier may include a 2-D barcode.Further, the method may include pre-registering for notice of thetransaction.

An embodiment of the invention includes an apparatus for reserving atransaction over a mobile device link comprising a mobile marketingplatform with a transmitter for offering a transaction over acommunication link and a barcode generator for generating a barcode as aconfirmation of receiving the response to the offer. The transmittertransmits the barcode using a wireless protocol and decoding of thebarcode serves as proof of confirmation.

Another embodiment includes a method for targeting users with devicespecific content, the method comprising the steps of transmitting anadvertising message with a link to a plurality of consumers, receivingconsumer device information in response to each consumer accessing thelink, generating content for display on a plurality of consumer devicesusing a common file format hierarchy, and rendering the contentgenerated using the common file format for each consumer as a functionof consumer device type. Features of the embodiment further include thecontent comprising advertising or a website and content generated usinga mobile marketing platform.

Another embodiment includes an advertising system comprising a pluralityof transmitters adapted for pushing content of interest to a mobiledevice within a predetermined transmission radius using a wirelessprotocol, and a visual display configured to provide information to auser of the mobile device, the information associated with the contentof interest and associated with at least one alternative communicationchannel for obtaining supplemental information associated with thecontent of interest. Additional features may include the transmitterposition information being used for contextual advertising messaging ofthe user of the mobile device, the wireless protocol being Bluetooth andthe alternative communication channel being one of cellular, email,WiFi, 3G, WiMax or general packet radio service. Further, the visualdisplay may include an interactive screen.

Another embodiment includes a targeted mobile marketing campaignplatform comprising a planning module with a definition module forsetting budget and objectives and a design module for designing thecampaign utilizing a plurality of templates. An execution moduleincludes design tools for designing an executable campaign from thecampaign design made from the templates, operating tools for causing theexecutable campaign to execute over multiple mobile services, and apersonalization engine configured to collect and filter profileinformation. The executable campaign targets an audience based upon theprofile information. Features of the embodiment include the profileinformation having a demographic criterion selected from age, gender,ethnicity, nationality, income, profession, religion, geographiclocation, education, and home ownership.

Another embodiment includes a targeted mobile marketing campaign methodcomprising planning a campaign by defining a budget and objectives,collecting and filtering profile information, designing the campaignutilizing a plurality of templates and the profile information. Thecampaign is executed by designing an executable campaign from thecampaign design made from the templates and causing the executablecampaign to execute over at least one mobile service to an audiencebased upon the profile information.

Another embodiment includes a mobile marketing campaign platformcomprising a broadcast module configured to transmit advertisements to aplurality of mobile device users, a database comprising mobile deviceprofile data and a personalization engine, having a rules moduledefining a targeted audience based on the mobile device profile data ofthe database. The broadcast module broadcasts advertisements to thetargeted audience. Features further include selecting the audience witha rules based engine using demographic criterion in the mobile deviceprofile data in which the criterion is selected from age, gender,ethnicity, nationality, income, profession, religion, geographiclocation, education, and home ownership. Further the targeted audiencemay be selected by the rules engine based upon a behavioral pattern suchas previous purchases, frequently visited sites, advertisement inquiresand mobile device usage.

Other features, objects, and advantages of the present invention areapparent in the detailed description that follows. It should beunderstood, however, that the detailed description, while indicatingembodiments of the present invention, is given by way of illustrationonly, not limitation. Various changes and modifications within the scopeof the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe detailed description.

Various aspects of the invention are described in further detail in thefollowing subsections. The use of subsections is not meant to limit theinvention. Each subsection may apply to any aspect of the invention. Inthis application, the use of “or” means “and/or” unless statedotherwise. As used in this disclosure, the term “comprise” andvariations of the term, such as “comprising” and “comprises,” are notintended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These embodiments and other aspects of this invention will be readilyapparent from the detailed description below and the appended drawings,which are meant to illustrate and not to limit the invention, and inwhich:

FIG. 1 is an organizational diagram of a mobile marketing platform inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart depicting some of the steps associated with amobile marketing campaign method in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the architecture of the mobile marketing platformin accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the campaign management system in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A-C depict visual displays of a budget setup in accordance withan embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 6A-B depict visual displays of an objectives setup in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 7A-D depict a visual display of a campaign setup in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 8A-D depict visual displays of a campaign designer in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 depicts visual display of a campaign designer in accordance withan embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 depicts a visual display of an account manager in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a personalization engine according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram depicting the components of a personalizationengine in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 13 is a visual display of a segment editor of the personalizationengine in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a diagram of a half-life score example in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 depicts a visual display of a campaign designer in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 16A-C depict visual displays of an activity designer in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 17 depicts a visual display of a prize manager in accordance withan embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 18 is a diagram of a state machine in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a diagram depicting a conversion model in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 depicts a flow diagram of document generation in accordance withan embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 21A-B are visual displays of a web document in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 depicts a visual display of an executive dashboard in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention FIG. 23 depicts a visual display ofa client dashboard in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 24 depicts a visual display of a campaign analytics module inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 25 is a visual display of a mobile TV and video manager inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 26 is a flow diagram of the mobile TV and video manager inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 27 is a system diagram of a product reservation system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 28A-G depict visual displays of a mobile site designer inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 29 depicts a visual display of a mobile community dashboard inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 30 depicts a visual display of a mobile community wizard segment inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 31 depicts a flow diagram of a consumer's interaction with theMobile CRM according to two embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 32 depicts the selection of content offered from a contentmanagement system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 33 depicts the selection of content offered from a contentmanagement system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention relates generally to platforms and methods formarketing and advertising to mobile devices. These platforms can beimplemented using combinations of software and hardware to solve manyexisting problems associated with using a mobile device as a mechanismfor receiving advertising. In part, one feature of an embodiment of theinvention is that the platforms have been designed for use byadvertisers and marketing personnel as opposed to engineers andprogrammers. As a result, intuitive graphic user interfaces andpre-populated campaign modules and templates form the basis for some ofthe platform embodiments described herein. An exemplary collection ofsuch templates is attached as Appendix A. The platforms provide toolsfor those in advertising and marketing to perform the tasks associatedwith their jobs in an easier, faster and more cost effective manner.

Embodiments of the invention include a Mobile Marketing Platform torespond to the increasing business need for mobile marketing andadvertising. Operators, content providers, and advertising agencies mayutilize the Mobile Marketing Platform to plan, create, manage andmonitor marketing and advertising campaigns. An embodiment of theinvention may also be utilized in mobile services personalization.

Consumer behavior is rapidly changing thanks to technological advances,such as state-of-art mobile phones and virtual worlds. Embodiments ofthe Mobile Marketing Platform provide a holistic approach to mobilemarketing. The Mobile Marketing Platform, in one embodiment is modularand can administer a large number of activities, such as branded WAPsites, WAP banner ads, text-to-win promotions, mobile communities,proximity marketing activities, and virtual worlds. The platformprovides the functionality required to create from scratch any activity,based on set budgets and objectives. It includes easy-to-use wizards forsetting up an activity in a structured manner, and offers thepossibility to combine and utilize one or more alternative communicationchannels such as, without limitation, SMS, WAP, web browser, cellular,email, WiFi, 3G, WiMax, and general packet radio service.

The Mobile Marketing Platform allows marketers to quickly execute andmonitor many campaigns simultaneously. This results in increasedpotential revenues from shorter time to market and larger volumes ofcampaigns, while reducing operational costs. The platform also makes useof subscriber data through interfacing with a personalization engine toallow for a personalized experience, while providing real-time reportingand monitoring of campaign data.

According to one embodiment, customer data collection and analysis leadto personalized recommendations, increasing data average revenue peruser from all value added services (VAS) and WAP portal services usage.Additionally, advanced customer profiling and segmentation techniquesallow the creation and monetization of customer communities, leading toincreased loyalty and reduced churn, and positively affecting voice anddata revenues.

Further, the platforms described herein provide tools and techniquesthat facilitate both advertising and marketing activities. Advertisingactivities refer to traditional advertising approaches such as radio andtelevision advertising, internet banner ads, etc. Similarly, marketingactivities refer to marketing or less conventional advertisingapproaches. For example, marketing based approaches can include directmail; spam; phone based messaging; viral marketing and public events.However, the usages of the terms advertising and marketing are notintended to be more limited than their general usage in the marketingand advertising industries.

The platforms disclosed herein consolidate and enable the planning anddistribution of media advertising content buying across multiple mobiledevices, providing a standardized way for advertising agencies todistribute their content across them. As mentioned above, the platformsare tailored for both advertising and marketing campaigns andcombinations of both. The advertising Mobile Advertising activitiescovered in various embodiments include, but are not limited to, WAPBanner Ads (ad banner reservation of x000s targeted impressions on- andoff-deck); Mobile Search Advertising (contextual/keyword search inoperator engines, on- and off-portal); Mobile TV Ads/Sponsored Video(reservation of pre- and post-roll video ads on- and off-portal); andBranded WAP sites and Ad-funded content (sponsored sites and on- andoff-portal content, e.g. music, games, news). Similarly, the marketingMobile Marketing activities include, but are not limited to in variousembodiments: Mobile Messaging (text-to-win, alerts, info, etc); On-packpromotions (contests, competitions, treasure hunts, sweepstakes, etc);Mobile Blogging/User Generated Content (video/photo blogs, chat &dating, etc); M-commerce (m-tickets, m-coupons, m-vouchers, tc); Loyaltyclubs (info, gifts, discounts, coupons, etc); and Bluetooth/ProximityMarketing (location based promotions, alerts, info, etc).

In general, the different platforms and other aspects of the inventiondisclosed herein provide a user friendly graphic user interface basedsystem that enables, in part, (1) the creating of advertising andmarketing campaigns; (2) the running of such campaigns via an electronicinterface; (3) the evaluation of campaigns via various performancemetrics and (4) the reporting of any such qualitative and quantitativemetrics in a variety of formats. The inclusion of pre-generatedtemplates and a variety of tools and interfaces help facilitate theseobjectives.

As used herein, the term “platform user,” unless otherwise specified mayinclude mobile marketing platform users such as campaign designers,editors, managers (including account and campaign managers), operatorsor other users involved in the creation, editing, submission, approval,budgeting, execution, and reporting of the campaign.

Available templates for possible use with a given platform of theinvention are proven, tested, easy to understand and successful. Bychanging the parameters, a platform user can generate thousands ofpotential campaigns. Templates help the non-expert user quickly design aspecific campaign. For example, to set up a “Text to Win Treasure Hunt”a user need only set up the messages and the copy text that will resultin a preconfigured approved campaign. Accordingly, the invention helpsautomate the mobile advertising business such that campaigns can begenerated, budgeted, implemented, and analyzed using a few keystrokesand mouse clicks.

Alternatively to utilizing templates, the platform user has the abilityto go beyond templates and create a custom campaign without theconstraints of pre-generated activities, metrics, and reports. The newcustom campaign will be supported by the planning and reportingfunctionality. As a result, the tools and platforms described herein addvalue to all forms of mobile advertising.

By incorporating a plurality of campaign templates that model marketingand advertising activities, the mobile marketing platform enables thedesign and launch of campaigns in hours rather than weeks, withsignificant cost savings. Each embodiment includes advanced proprietarytechnology, powerful reporting tools and performance indicators, for useby major mobile operators, advertising agencies, enterprises and brandowners. These embodiments and aspects of the invention enable the rapidand cost effective creation of permission-based (‘opt in’), multi-levelmobile marketing campaigns including full cycle campaign planning,execution and monitoring across mobile marketing, advertising andcontent delivery activities. Further examples of mobile marketingactivities included in some embodiments include: location aware andproximity solutions, retail coupon based marketing, inventory andtraffic alerts, user generated content applications and virtual world tomobile interactions.

The different platform, system, and method embodiments disclosed hereinenable an advertising agency to easily manage and run multi-level mobilemarketing campaigns. With a user-friendly interface, powerful softwarebased tools, and a comprehensive menu of mobile marketing tools, everystep in the process—planning, design and execution, as well as reportingis addressed.

The mobile marketing platform solution manages the full cycle ofplanning, executing and monitoring multiple activities across a campaignas well as multiple campaigns at the same time. These activities havebeen automated into more than sixty ready to consume template activitiesthat model both advertising and marketing activities.

Advertising activities are enabled in a way that can address all theexisting operator portal and third party mobile advertising marketplacesmaking them suitable for an advertising agency to drive volume easilyand transparently. Below-the-line activities are even more important asthey provide truly differentiating marketing capabilities to ad agenciesthat go beyond the usual commoditized, low margin, banner ad buying. Ingeneral, different platform embodiments can include three cooperatingmodules. Specifically, a given platform implementation in variousembodiments includes a planning module, an execution module (for bothmobile marketing and advertising activities), and a reporting module. Inaddition, different methods and platforms are implemented using atechnical architecture that includes different components. Thesecomponents include a core engine (back end), one or more mobileactivities templates, and a user interface (front end).

Turning now to FIG. 1, some of the modules of a mobile marketingplatform embodiment 100 are depicted. A main mobile marketing platformmodule 101 serves as the umbrella module to interface, oversee anddirect the underlying modules within the system. A planning module 102allows the platform user to perform a plurality of functions associatedwith the initial procedures of an advertising or marketing campaign. Theplanning module 102 includes functionalities for setting a budget andcampaign objectives 105, creating and editing a campaign 106. Activitiesassociated with creating and editing a campaign may include defining anew campaign 113, defining certain campaign activities 114, submittingthe campaign to a manager 115, and giving and receiving approval 116 ofthe campaign as deigned.

An execution module 103 is responsible for the operation and executionof the details of the campaign. This module 103 works with an activitiescreation module 108 in one embodiment. Within the execution module 103,a platform user may create configure the activities approved in theplanning stage as well as define new activities. According to oneembodiment of the invention, an activities wizard 117 may be implementedto assist the platform user in a step-by-step process of creating andconfiguring activities. Additional details on activity creation andconfiguration are given below. In addition to the creation andconfiguration of activities, the execution module also containsoperational tools 109 that carry out the details of the campaign.According to one embodiment described in detail below, a state machine118 is implemented to execute the communication between the mobilemarketing platform and the consumer, or consumer's mobile device.

A reporting module 104 provides the capability for a platform user togenerate reports, statistics, metric analysis and other performancerelated activity associated with the campaign. Within the reportingmodule, the platform provides tools for advertising related positions aswell as clients to monitor and track the progress of a campaign. Anexecutive dashboard 110 may be used by account managers, campaignmanagers and other advertising professionals associated with thecampaign to view reports at a brand level. A client dashboard 111displays client-side information that allows a platform user to see andtrack campaigns on a client level. A campaign analytics tool 112 may beused to gather reported data from the campaign such as demographicprofiles, task lists and other associated data.

A personalization module 107 is a services delivery framework forcollecting, analyzing and organizing customer usage, demographic andbehavioural data in order to dynamically assign customers into segments,which are consequently addressed by respective MMP activities. Thepersonalization engine is integrated with marketing or advertisingmaterials sent or displayed on a mobile device. The advertising contentmay be transmitted to a user via messaging services, such as SMS or MMS,or may be integrated mobile web pages viewed through a mobile device'sbrowser (e.g., WAP sites, banners, etc). Further details of anembodiment of the personalization module are given below.

A Mobile CRM 119 module is included in one embodiment of the mobilemarking platform. The Mobile CRM enables the formation of mobilecommunities, manages the interactivity with subscribers throughbroadcasts in order to enhance participation, and analyzes memberbehaviour accordingly. The Mobile Communities Manager provides the toolsto analyze the community using different views, e.g. pie charts andgraphs. The Mobile CRM, according to one embodiment, is an independentmodule that provides functionality across the mobile marketing platform.Further details of an embodiment of the Mobile CRM module are givenbelow.

FIG. 2 depicts a process flow 200 of the creation, execution andmonitoring of a campaign in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. In general, in various embodiments the steps shown in FIG. 2can be initiated or performed by any platform user. Initially, anaccount manager defines a budget 202. Next, the objectives that aparticular brand wants to achieve via a mobile based advertisingcampaign are defined 204 by an account manager. A campaign brief thatreflects the budget and the objectives as well as other desired featuresin the campaign is generated 206 by an account manager. In response tothe brief, a campaign manager or campaign designer generates a proposal208 for the campaign for review by the account manager. This proposaltypically includes a plurality of activities that will be performed oncethe campaign is initiated. Once the account manager receives theproposal, he can approve it or edit it 210. This portion of the processflow can operate as a loop 211 such that edits to the proposal arereturned to the campaign manager who then revise the proposal and resendthe revised proposal back to the account manager for approval. Thereview and editing of a proposal 210 by an account manager can beperformed at the campaign level and at the individual activities levelthat make up a given campaign. Once the campaign has been approved, thecampaign designer configures the activities 212 and the campaign isexecuted. However, in some embodiments, some individual activities canbe initiated while other activities are undergoing review and approval.Finally, once the campaign is running, the account manager can generatereports 214 to audit and otherwise evaluate the success of a givencampaign or activity.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a diagram 300 of the modular architecture of anembodiment of the mobile marketing platform is depicted. The mobilemarketing platform is based on a plurality of infrastructure modulesthat include various algorithms, software, and data processingcomponents. These modules provide a framework for the mobile marketingplatform. The platform utilizes the Mobile Service Manager (MSM) 302.The MSM 302 is an application server for mobile applications thatincludes a set of subroutines that handle messages between the platformand the mobile devices. The MSM 302 includes the underlying I/Ohandlers, the database transaction manager abstraction layer, the XMLweb device independent user interface modules, and the state machinedefinition and execution runtime described below.

In addition, the MSM provides the infrastructure for the variouscomponents and modules to operate, including the campaign planner 304which is responsible for planning mobile advertising and marketingactivities, the promotions module 306 for setting up and executing SMSpromotions, the Alerts module 308 which is responsible for setting upand executing SMS Alerts. An activities manager 310 contains andexecutes the defined activities of the campaign while a broadcastmanager 312 is responsible for the broadcast of content that should bedistributed to consumers of members of a targeted audience. A mobileclub manager 314 module is responsible for the mobile community-basedactivities explained below. A keyword manager 316 does the handling ofthe keywords that mobile-users text to shortcodes as SMS messages. Thedownload manager 318 is responsible for delivering the content to themobile device. A draw manager 320 performs draws among participants inactivities, and declares winners. A subscription manager 322 isresponsible for managing the user profiles and subscriptions to variousservices. A monitoring manager 324 oversees, aggregates, and reports thedata associated with the campaigns. A messaging infrastructure 334 isresponsible for the SMS messaging capabilities of the MSM 302.

The MSM 302 interfaces with a data repository 326, such as a database,containing data associated with the campaign, such as advertisingcontent files, consumer profile data, etc. A content repository 328stores content used for the campaigns including images, sound, video,text, and binary files. It also provides a repository with mobile devicecapabilities such as rendering language, image size, supported fileextensions that are used for the correct rendering of pages served toeach specific mobile device. A banner manager 330 is responsiblemanaging ad banners and their placement in external WAP sites, as wellas serving the appropriate banner to WAP pages of such sites, when arequest comes. The MSM 302 also interfaces with WAP sites 332 associatedwith or created by the campaigns, as described below.

Turning now to FIG. 4, a mobile advertising campaign management systemarchitecture 400 is shown. A campaign manager module 402 includes thefunctions and attributes, described above, required to manage theadvertising campaign. Under the campaign manager are modules of theadvertising and marketing engine 404. The modules associated with theadvertising activities outlined above include, in one embodiment, mobiletelevision ads and sponsored video manager, an advertising-fundedcontent manager, a WAP banner and advertising manager, and Buildermodule. The management modules for the marketing activities include, inone embodiment, a promotion manager, a mobile communications manager, abroadcast manager, and a proximity marketing manager. A monitoring andreporting system 406 interfaces with all of the managers of themarketing and advertising manager in order to provide updates to thebenchmarks, metrics and other data of interest to the campaign manager.

The management system further includes operations tools 408 to handlethe operational tasks. Communication and training tools 410, including atraining center and a communicator module are also part of the system. Apersonalization manager 412 spans the various layers of the managementsystem to provide customized and targeted advertising to end-users. AMobile CRM module 413 provides functionality for the creation of mobilecommunities, explained below.

The mobile marketing platform can engage customers with both advertisingand marketing features by creating and running campaigns built byaggregating a plurality of activities. In general, campaigns can bebuilt by using pre-generated templates or by creating unique customactivities. Different activities may be linked together to form acampaign, a marketing activity linked to an advertising activity forexample. An exemplary process flow for the operation of a given platformembodiment is shown below.

While embodiments of the invention are described herein as part of amodular architecture, one skilled in the art should recognize that thestructure of the functions, tools, and capabilities of the platform ismerely exemplary and the functionality of the system may be combined orreconfigured into alternate architectures without deviating from thescope of the invention. The mobile marketing platform modules describedabove are explained below in greater detail.

The Planning Module

The planning module allows the advertiser to perform a variety offunctions as part of an automated and graphic user interface platform.Specifically, one function associated with the planning module includesconfiguring a brand's advertising and marketing budget for mobilemarketing activities. Further, the planning module facilitatesassociating high level objectives with the brand's mobile marketingstrategy and ensuring that these are programmed within an allocatedbudget. In general, within the overall marketing and advertisingplatform, each objective is associated with a number of measurablemetrics. Key performance indicators of the objectives are influenced bythe performance of these metrics. In addition, the planning module helpsdesign mobile marketing campaigns by defining the campaign schedule, thecampaign advertising and marketing budget, the campaign objectives, thetarget group, and a selection of desired activities from the predefinedtemplates. The amount allocated for the campaign budget is subtractedfrom the brand's overall budget, depending on the type of the campaigns'activities (advertising or marketing).

Budget and Objectives

An embodiment of the mobile marketing platform enables the advertiser toorganize mobile marketing and advertising events (activities) as part ofmobile marketing campaigns. Wizards allow the organization of campaignsby guiding the user to define the campaign schedule, the campaignadvertising and marketing budget, the campaign objectives, the targetgroup, and a selection of desired activities from predefined templates.The concept of a mobile marketing or advertising activity template isintroduced: the users may use one or more templates as part of acampaign. Depending on the users skill set, the wizard allows fordifferent levels of configuration detail. Configurable workflows allowfor setting decision making gates at different campaign stages. Uponapproval the execution of the campaign is automatic. The performance ofthe campaign is tracked at the campaign and the activity level and ismeasured using a metrics system. Metrics are directly associated withcampaign objectives.

An embodiment of the mobile marketing platform enables the advertisersand marketers to manage a brand's budget available for mobile marketingactivities via an easy to use interface. The budget is divided betweenadvertising and marketing and is available to use for advertising andmarketing activities, respectively. The advertisers can also associatemeasurable brand objectives they want to achieve by organizing mobilemarketing campaigns using the allocated budget. The Account Manager hasaccess to the budget view of the mobile marketing platform where he canset up the brand's budget for mobile marketing (marketing) and mobileadvertising (advertising) via the platform.

The Account Manager allocates the available budget between advertisingand marketing activities. The difference between the available and theallocated budget is that the available budget is the max budget that canbe used for the campaign and the allocated is the proposed budget to beused for the campaign. The Account Manager is also offered thepossibility to end and submit the brief after defining the generalinformation, the objectives, the target group and the budget or tocontinue with the advertising and marketing planning (the planning ofthe campaign activities). Activities are the main elements of thecampaign. The activities can be selected from a list of predeterminedactivity templates. Still, at this point they are optional and it isleft to the discretion of the Account Manager to define them. All theother parameters, however, need to be defined in order to submit thebrief in one embodiment. Thus, by using the described wizard, theAccount Manager submits the campaign brief to the account manager forapproval.

An embodiment of the user interface of the Budget View 500 shown in FIG.5A permits the user, for example, the Account Manager, to define theclient 502 and the product 504 and the advertising and marketing budgetamounts on a monthly basis. The platform then calculates the totalbudget amounts, the amounts utilized and available and the distributionof amounts utilized over the various quarters.

Referring also to FIG. 5B, in one embodiment the quarterly totals arepopulated by entering data into a Budget Setup screen 510. Within thisscreen, the user can allocate money to various budget categories.

Referring to FIG. 5C, using the wizard, the account manager defines thebudget information 530. The budget information 530 according to oneembodiment may be allocated between the Advertising and Marketingcategories.

The Account Manager then turns to the Objectives View screen 600 (FIG.6A) to define the objectives 602 of the campaign. By defining theobjectives 602, the system can measure how closely the campaignobjectives are met. Thus, the mobile marketing platform allows theadvertisers and marketers to track the performance of a mobile marketingcampaign and activities using a metrics system. Measurable performancemetrics are associated with activities. The system allows the real timetracking of these metrics and their combination to provide differenttypes of reports both as activity metrics and campaign metrics. Metricscan be grouped and associated with high level brand objectives.

The Account Manager proceeds with setting up the brand's objectivesusing the Objectives View 600. The brand's objectives are measuredthrough predefined metrics. A platform user can use predefinedobjectives or set up new ones. Typically setting up the budget andobjectives are the techniques for capturing functional requirements ofbusiness systems the Account Manager executes when an account for a newbrand is initiated through the platform. Thus, in the objectives screenthe Account Manager lists the objectives (for example “build awareness”)and for a specific objective being shown the results 604 of the metricassociated with that objective (for example “test drive requests”) overtime.

Referring also to FIG. 6B, the Account Manager also associatespredefined objectives and corresponding metrics with a brand. Thus, theAccount Manager can associate or disassociate a predefined objective tothe brand and assign relevant metrics. The wizard also allows theAccount Manager to create custom objectives measured by a selection ofmetrics. The Account Manager can add, edit or remove a custom objectivefrom the brand. Upon pressing the modify button 608 the Account Managercan modify the brand objectives. By pressing the “Select frompredefined” radio button 612, the Account Manager associates predefinedobjectives with the brand. By Pressing “Create New” 614 the AccountManager creates a custom objective.

Planning a New Campaign

Once the objectives and the budget are defined, the Account Manager cansend requests for proposals (Campaign Briefs) designated to the CampaignDesigner. The campaigns are accessed via the “Campaigns” view 700, shownin FIG. 7A, and the Briefs are generated by running the Submit CampaignBrief function. In the Campaigns View screen 700, a Gant chart of activecampaigns is displayed. The chart shows the start and end dates of thevarious campaigns for a given client.

Thus, for planning a new campaign the Account Manager submits a campaignbrief, to the Campaign designer which he or she creates through thewizard. The Account Manager defines the general information about thecampaign, including the budget and objectives, to form the campaignbrief. The campaign brief includes a name specific to the campaign, adescription that explains the features of the campaign and a schedule,with a valid start and end date. The Account Manager can also set up theobjectives and the target group for the campaign. The objectives can beselected from a list of predefined objectives and at this point theAccount Manager is not able to add other objectives except for thepredefined objectives. The target group is defined from a predefinedrange for age, gender and income.

The brief attributes are populated through the use of a wizard. Usingthe wizard 720, (FIG. 7B), the account manager defines the campaign name702, its description 704 and its start and end dates 706. The user nextdefines the objectives 708 of the campaign and the target audience viathe Targeting View 730 (FIG. 7C). According to one embodiment, thetarget audience may be defined by a number of demographic attributes710, such as gender, age and income. Other demographic attributes mayused to define a target audience may include, without limitation,geographic location, ethnicity, nationality, education level, maritalstatus, number of children, home ownership, car ownership, internet userfrom home, or internet user from office. The profile of user (with aunique identifier like a MSISDN), can be also updated with behavioral,purchasing and navigation attributes. Metrics for these categoriesinclude: Airtime per Request, Bytes per Request, Airtime per Session,Bytes per Session, Requests per Session, Session length, Sessions permonth, Bytes per session, Average Click-Distance, Sequence (move throughthe portal), Accessed content categories per session, Number of requestsper category, Location (Cell ID or longitude/latitude XY coordinates)when accessing certain portal sections, Number of downloads percategory, Downloaded items, Number of streams per category, Streameditems, Search keywords. Some demographic attributes may be dynamicallyupdated based on observed behavior and probabilistic modeling. Forexample, participation on a campaign titled “Beauty Tips” may result inprobabilistic definition at certain values that the user is probablywoman and in dynamically populating attribute segment fields such“Beauty Products Lovers”. Similarly other demographic attributes mayinclude, without limitation, “WAP user”, “Java Gamer”, “Mobile-TV fan.

Once the campaign setup is completed, the user can elect to send thisbrief as a request for proposal (“RFP”) once the new campaign planningis complete. Once this has been decided, the Account Manager definesadvertising and marketing activities from a set of templates 760 asshown in FIG. 7D. The creation of a new campaign is completed once theuser has selected the campaign activities from the available templates.

Upon receipt of the campaign brief, the campaign designer generates aproposal to respond to the brief, by running the Submit CampaignProposal. The cost and the details for each campaign activity areincluded in the proposal. The submission of the campaign proposal can beinitiated even if there is no brief. In that case, the campaign designerinitiates the campaign process.

Submitting the Campaign Proposal

The Campaign Designer views the Campaign Brief upon receipt from theAccount Manager. The Campaign Designer can process the campaignparameters as set in the brief and respond with a campaign proposal forthe Account Manager.

The Campaign Designer is able to review the general information of thecampaign (name, description, and schedule). The Campaign Designer alsoselects activities to meet the objectives and budget set up by theAccount Manager. Thus, using a similar wizard as the Account Manager,described above, the Campaign Designer views and updates the activities,if any, or defines new activities. Again, the activities can be selectedfrom a list of predetermined activities common for all campaigns. Themain difference though is that the Campaign Designer is allowed toprocess the activities and set up a name specific to each activity, adescription that explains the features of the activity (such as thoseclosest in time), a schedule with a valid start and end date and a cost,or a portion of the allocated budget. Furthermore, the Campaign Designerdefines the metrics for measurement of the success of the activity andthe targets for each metric.

Thus, by using the wizard, the campaign designer submits the campaignproposal and at this point the campaign enters the design stage and ispending upon approval by the Account Manager. The campaign proposal mayinclude the activity list, the name of the activity, a description ofthe activity, the schedule for the activity, the cost of the activity,as well as any metrics and targets associated with the activity.

The campaign designer may generate a new campaign 800 (FIG. 8A) bydefining the campaign name 802, campaign proposal description 804 andstart and end dates 806. Then the user selects activities from a set ofactivity templates 808 (FIG. 8B); define activities (cost, descriptionand metric targets) 830 (FIG. 8C) and metrics 840 (FIG. 8D). Oncecompleted the entries may be edited or saved.

Approve Campaign Proposal

The Account Manager receives the campaign proposal as set up by thecampaign designer. At this stage, the Account Manager can view or editthe campaign proposal. At this point the campaign is still in the Designstage.

Upon selection of the “View campaign proposal” button 902 in theCampaign Planner 900 (FIG. 9) the Account Manager views the list ofcampaign activities. At this point, the Account Manager has an overviewof all parameters of the campaign and can choose to accept or reject allof the activities. The Account Manager reviews the Campaign Proposalsubmitted from the campaign designer and approves/rejects the differentactivities. If the Account Manager chooses to accept all of theactivities, then the campaign is approved. On the other hand if all ofthe activities are rejected, then the whole campaign is canceled.

The Account Manager can also select a specific activity, preview theinformation related to the activity 1000 (FIG. 10) and can choose toconfirm or cancel the activity. If he rejects an activity he may add acomment on his action. At this point in time, some of the activities areapproved, and some are still pending approval. The Campaign designerthen edits the proposal, taking into consideration the Account Managerscomments (by executing the Edit Campaign Proposal) and the proposal isthen returned to the Account Manager for approval.

The Account Manager can also choose at this point to cancel allactivities and thus cancel the whole campaign.

Personalization Module

According to an embodiment of the invention a personalization engine(FIG. 1) is included as an additional feature of the mobile marketingplatform. According to one embodiment the personalization engine isfeatured as a stand-alone module of the MMP, however alternativeconfigurations may be implemented in which the personalization enginemay be organized as part of the execution module or the planning module.The exemplary location of the personalization module, as shown in FIG.1, within the architecture of the MMP should not be limited to theillustrative examples described herein.

The personalization engine is a services delivery framework forcollecting, analyzing and organizing customer usage, demographic andbehavioural data in order to dynamically assign customers into segments,which are consequently addressed by respective MMP activities. Thepersonalization engine is integrated with marketing or advertisingmaterials sent or displayed on a mobile device. The advertising contentmay be transmitted to a user via messaging services, such as SMS or MMS,or may be integrated mobile web pages viewed through a mobile device'sbrowser (e.g., WAP sites, banners, etc).

Turning to FIG. 11, a high-level flow diagram 1100 of a personalizationengine module is shown. According to one embodiment, the mobilemarketing platform personalization module 1102 collects profiling datafrom user declared responses 1104, analyses individual user behaviouralpatterns from past activities 1106, compares with like-minded userspreferences 1108, analyzes external data provided by customer datawarehouse, CRM or Billing systems, weights contextual factors 1110 andorganizes customers into dynamic segments 1112 that are addressed realtime by campaign activities 1114.

The personalization module interacts across all marketing andadvertising activities for both data gathering and addressingappropriate end-users for the campaign objectives. The personalizationengine includes many attributes to enhance targeted delivery ofadvertising, including, but not limited to, sophisticated profiling andautomatic segmentation of users, definition, immediate execution andmanagement of targeted personalized offerings utilizing segmentation andprofiling data, and automatic adaptation of the original navigation of aportal according to user behaviour.

The sophisticated profiling is achieved by analyzing collected data frommultiple systems for each individual, segment, content, service orpromotion level. Further, through the use of sophisticated rules andproprietary profiling algorithms, the engine compiles an accurateprofile for each individual user.

A schematic 1200 of the personalization engine module is presented inFIG. 12. As depicted above, the personalization module, based on a setof pre-defined personalization algorithms, interacts with a set ofauxiliary modules and creates adaptive user profiles and user segmentsand also triggers specific actions based on predefined scenarios.Components of one embodiment of the personalization engine moduleinclude a user interface that provides tools for adding attribute basedrules and scenarios with actions, and a set of Java (RMI, JMS) and XMLAPI's for receiving any kind of user related data. Data parsers can beimplemented per case for transforming these data to the appropriateformat. The personalization module also includes a set of Java (RMI,JMS) and XML API's for interacting with rendering engines and WAP siteswhether local or remote. Through this API the engine retrieves WAP sitemetadata (site map, content info) and produces personalized content andlayout. The API may be customized to cover special requirementsconcerning specific data and content format. The personalization enginemodule further includes a set of Java API's for interacting with ProfileManager, Segmentation Manager, Monitoring Manager and Activity Manager(described above). A core engine is also included that implementspredefined personalization algorithms and transforms plain user data touser profile and behavioural information. This information is forwardedto Profile Manager which is responsible for managing user profiles.

Once a customer has been profiled, a profiling manager automaticallygroups the customers, using automated clustering, into homogeneousgroups for marketing analysis and targeted action. These “intelligentsegments,” driven by detailed customer-level data, are then used forcampaign targeting. Automated clustering reveals meaningful groups ofcustomers that the user might not have otherwise identified via manualsegmentation.

According to one embodiment, there are several rules a personalizationengine implements in order to achieve its goal of delivering relevantads at a time when end users are most receptive and via the mostadvantageous communication interface (i.e., WAP, WEB, SMS, MMS,Bluetooth etc.). One example of such a rule states that when a userfinds something interesting the viewing session or period of interactionlasts at least one more click. The more times the end user clicks, thelonger the average session lasts.

The core of the mobile marketing platform personalization engine lies inthe coding of the algorithms derived from statistical model(s). Theimplementation coexists in the production environment and is fast enoughto return results within an acceptable time frame. When integratingpersonalization with a complete value-added service (“VAS”) system, themobile marketing platform personalization module uses data miningtechnology to sift through the data generated from customers' clicks,transactions, demographics, and ratings data gathered from otherservices. The engine obtains scores which can be executed in real-timeor batch mode. The calculation of scores eliminates the need to keep ahistory for the users in the personalization engine that could makestorage requirements grow exponentially. Each service (WAP site, SMScenter, MMS center etc.) keeps the relevant data (database, log files,etc) in place where the historical data belongs and the personalizationengine computes the information calculating the scores per service,content, etc. Recommendation engines serve the personalization'sreal-time recommendations to any service.

The personalization engine, according to one embodiment, fits into anetwork as it has an API that interfaces with standard technologies.Many external systems such as messaging systems fail to provide a nativesupport capability for other systems integration. Apart from a scoresretrieval API, there is a “collectors” API that is integrates externalsources of any kind of feeds. Therefore, so-called “wrappers” aredeveloped. These are the integration points with the operator's network.Normally the wrappers co-exist in a service oriented architecture(“SOA”) environment. The wrappers translate the native format of theexternal system and provide an interface for other systems to interfacewith the messaging system. The wrappers can import the data in real timeor in a batch job (weekly, daily, etc.) based on the business logic orthe infrastructure setup of the system. Normally the external systemsimport the data to be processed on a second node of the personalizationengine module to avoid degradation of the response throughput of realtime system.

FIG. 13 depicts a visual display 1300 presented to a campaign managerutilizing the mobile marketing platform including a personalizationengine according to one embodiment. A segment editor allows the campaigndesigner to specify the target segment by selecting certain categoriesthat can restrict the marketing campaign to a demographic. Age groups,gender, income levels, region, ethnicity marital status, number ofchildren, home ownership, car ownership and internet usage are examplesof certain criteria a campaign designer may use to define the targetedaudience. The campaign designer can select one or more of the givencriteria to create a targeted audience for the campaign.

In various embodiments, different methods and algorithms for calculatingthe distances of the targeted attributes set by the media buyers andoperators, relative to the attributes in user profiles, can be used fordefining targeted users. In one embodiment, methods based on theWeighted Normalized Euclidean distance are used. Distances can takevalues between zero and infinity. In one embodiment, the targeted set ofattributes which exactly matches the respective attributes included inthe relational profile database has distance 0.0, while the leastsimilar variable has the largest distance up to infinity. In cases inwhich there are absolutely no matches with any one of the attributecolumns, other features are calculated for presentation of relevant ads.For example, a generic banner, a house-banner or a banner in the samecontext with the page is presented.

In one embodiment, the user attribute matching procedure is as follows.For all existing attributes in the user profile a comparison with thetargeted criteria is applied. The sum of the least distances isreturned. Non-matching variables which have infinite (+∞) distance arenot calculated at all. If an exact match to all attributes is found(distance=0.0) then these are prioritized at the top of the list whichdefine the dynamic segment. The rest of the matches are ranked based onthe least distance. If for some reasons (e.g. limit the list of MSISDNs)the designer or the media buyer wishes to assign smaller importance insome variables, then a weight (which is less than one) is multiplied bythe distance in that attribute. Therefore, when calculating the sum ofdistances, this lesser importance is reflected in the total by theweighing parameter reducing the significance of some variables ofinterest. If no weight is specified then the multiplier is assumed to beone and equal for all targeted attributes. Conversely, a weight greaterthan one can be used to emphasize certain variables of interest in oneembodiment of the user matching procedure. The Euclidean distancebetween the targeted attributes and the profile is described by thefollowing expression:

${d( {x,y} )} = \sqrt{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{y}{( \frac{x_{i} - y_{i}}{\sigma_{i}} )^{2}w_{i}}}$

where x=(x₁, . . . , x_(i)) is the targeted attribute the relevantmodule uses to make a comparison, y=(y₁, . . . , y_(i)) is the attributein users profile, i=1 . . . , n the number of attributes, and w_(i) theweight for the i-th attribute. Therefore, x_(i) is the value fortargeted attribute i, y_(i) is the profile value for attribute i, andσ_(i) is the standard deviation of attribute i.

In turn, the expression for calculating standard deviation is

$\sigma = \sqrt{\frac{1}{N}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{N}( ( {x_{i} - \overset{\_}{x}} ) )^{2}}}$

With respect to the standard deviation, N is the number of possiblevalues, x_(i) corresponds to each discrete attribute value and x is themean of attribute's values. The reason that standard deviation is usedis because a common scale for all attributes values is required in orderto make them comparable with each other. For example, attributes canhave ranges in the order of multiple thousands (e.g. income) while otherattributes have ranges in the order of 1 to 99 (e.g. age). Withoutnormalizing those using standard deviation procedures, the values arenot comparable. Finally, in one preferred embodiment, values arenormalized to the range [0.0, 1.0] by dividing each Euclidean distanceby the maximum of all the Euclidean distances.

According to an embodiment, an example of a personalization algorithm isa half-life algorithm that calculates a score of a visit based on thetime and date. In general, the half-life algorithm guarantees that theaging of a visit will take place in exactly the same way regardless ofthe time and date of the visit. It works based on the interval of thetime from the last accessed time and the previous score.

$\begin{matrix}{{score} = {\frac{pscore}{( {{now} - {laccessed}} )^{2}/{halflife}} + {inc}}} & ( {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 1} )\end{matrix}$

The equation (Eq. 1) states that the score equals the previous score(pscore) divided by the difference of the current time (now) and thelast accessed time (laccessed) squared, divided by the half-life value(that can be configured based on item type) plus of the increment value(inc) (that can be configured based on item type).

To further illustrate the formula as an example and illustrated in FIG.14, assume two items A and B exist. Suppose that the items are links ina portal and the items need to be reordered based on usage in a page.This example assumes a simple time frame from 1 to 18. An entry timepoint of the two items must also be defined. Supposing item A has beenaccessed on time 10 and then on time 18 while item B has been accessedon time 12 and then on time 14. Based on the Eq. 1 the scores of theitem will be:

Time 10−>A has score of 1.25

Time 12−>B has score of 1.0625

Time 14−>B has score of 1.265625

Time 18−>A has score of 1.01953125

Higher scores signify more usage. As seen in the example, the scoresstate that more frequent usage of an item gives higher scores. When thepage rendered at time 19 the links will be arranged according to thescores. The fact that the half-life and the increment value can be basedon the type of the items, signify that different scores exist based onthe items and how they are rated.

One advantage of this type of algorithm is that the personalizationengine maintains only records of the items that are accessed and doesnot keep the history of every item that could lead to the exponentialgrowth of the storage database. Further, the calculation (and the datamining) takes place when registering the item itself in the background,and not on demand that would lead to delays in the response of therequest.

The use of realms further expands the efficacy and usefulness of thepersonalization engine. As used herein, a realm is defined as anarea/section in which a user's activity is monitored and evaluated bythe personalization engine. A realm provides the ability to distinguishitems based on types. For instance, an item that translates intodownloadable item, such as WAP usage, etc. may be of interest. The datamining process identifies the item, based on rules attached to it, andfeeds the personalization engine with the data. As a further example, a“usage type” realm could be introduced in order to keep track the usageof a user. The items to be tracked could be “SMS,” “voice,” “WAP.” Basedon the scores of the items within the realm the system can find out thebehaviour of the user in combination with the Profile Manager that willuse the personalization engine.

Another illustrative example case concerns a customer who's MSISDN isregistered in the name of a female mother with 45 years old age.Nevertheless, the actual user of the phone is a young boy with age 18years old. The actual user while browsing the operator's portal is neverclicking on banners advertising products for that demographic (e.g.,beauty tips, parenting, etc.). Instead, the user is clicking on bannerstypically associated with a younger male demographic (e.g., music,sports, etc.). The personalization engine collecting data based on thisactivity may re-associate the MSISDN to segments of age-group of 18-24,music fans, and sport fans. In subsequent campaigns the banner ads thatwill be displayed to this user will concern music and sports (and NOTbeauty), therefore the appeal of the ads, and ultimately the likelihoodof a purchase is maximised, generating the maximum impact for both themedia buyer and the end-user who is receiving ads relevant to hisinterests/needs. For a broadcasting SMS activity (i.e. sendingadvertisements via SMS to a mobile telephone), the user will be eligibleto receive ads relevant to his previously tracked activity or tolike-minded users.

Continuing the above scenario, suppose the same phone/MSISDN is now usedby the mother to participate in an SMS Text-to-Win competition. She ispresented with the option to respond with her profiling data and receivemore points and free content. As soon as the end-user sends herprofiling data, the MSISDN is dynamically re-associated to theappropriate market segment at once. In this case the user declaredattributes have higher weight in the personalization module algorithms.

The Execution Module

The execution module allows the platform user to perform a variety oftasks. For example, representative tasks include, but are not limited todesigning campaigns and operating campaigns. Specifically, the executionmodule of the platform facilitates the design of mobile marketingcampaigns. This objective is achieved by using a series of executiontools that are tailored to meet the advertisers' requirements.Similarly, once designed, the execution module provides a set ofoperational tools that can be used to operate a mobile marketingcampaign.

Configure Campaign Activity

For those activities that have been approved by the Account Manager, thecampaign designer can proceed with the configuration of that activity,using the corresponding configuration tool. For most of the activities,the configuration tool is a wizard, as described above.

When viewing the campaign planner 1500, as depicted in FIG. 15, theplatform user can choose to configure specific activities that have beenalready approved by the Account Manager, as described above. Byhighlighting the activity 1502 and pressing the “Configure thisactivity” button 1504 (FIG. 15) the platform user enters the specificwizard for the activity. As detailed above, selection of activities andsome configuration of activities may be completed by the campaigndesigner in the planning stages. The set-up and configuration process issimilar for both regardless of the stage of the campaign.

FIGS. 16A-C depict various displays presented to the campaign designeras he steps through the wizard. The parameters and elements of thewizard are not general and are activity specific. For example, thewizard for a “Text to Win” activity, a contest in which a sweepstakes orother contest offer may be sent to a user via short messaging service(“SMS”) asking the consumer to respond to the SMS to become eligible towin a prize, allows the campaign designer to define the GeneralInformation of the activity. For each campaign that includes thisactivity the campaign designer can define the number of attributesincluding: the name of the activity 1602, the start 1604 and end 1606dates, a service name 1608, a short code address 1610, keywords 1612 anda STOP/HELP message 1614.

Furthermore, according to one embodiment, the campaign designer candefine the functional characteristics (FIGS. 16B, 16C) of an “InstantWin” competition represented by the following attributes: name 1602,custom defined prize 1615, frequency 1616, and number of winners 1618,winning message 1620 and a “close-to-win” message 1622. These mainelements of the activity define the flow and user interaction.Additionally, the wizard allows the input of a message for non-winners1624.

One example of a configured activity includes a Prize Manager Module(FIG. 17) that allows the campaign designer to award prizes by executinga series of draws. The campaign designer may define attributes 1702including: the name of the drawing, the start and end dates, the prize,number of points need to participate and the total number of winnerspermitted.

While Instant Win and Prize Manager activities are described above, oneskilled in the art should recognize that the specific activitiesdepicted are merely examples and the scope of the invention should notbe limited to these illustrative activities. Additional exemplaryactivities are listed in Appendix A below, however, other activities maybe implemented without deviating from the scope of the invention.

Once the campaign designer has completed creating and configuring theactivities designed for the campaign. The execution module relies on theoperation tools included in the platform to activate the campaign anddistribute the advertising and marketing content to the consumers.

Execution of Campaign Over Mobile Service

According to one embodiment, the mobile marketing platform executes themarketing campaign over a mobile service to consumers' mobile devices bycommunicating with the mobile device using SMS. SMS stands for ShortMessaging System, and it is a text-only interaction which, unlike a richuser interface, is limited in user interaction capabilities because: 1)the amount of information presented to the user is limited (a typicalSMS is around 160 chars); 2) the user is generally prompted with theavailable commands, which he/she cannot be expected to remember; and 3)the sporadic nature of the interaction makes holding long dialogsimpractical. To overcome these problems, the mobile marketing platform,in one embodiment, utilizes a state machine as an operational tool toexecute the campaign. The dialog between the user and the state machineessentially transitions each user of the mobile marketing platformbetween states of operation.

Certain applications of the mobile marketing platform, referred toherein as “TextApps” according to one embodiment, respond to textreceived from the user via SMS. As the text is received, a text matchingalgorithm is performed using one of three models: exact match; regularexpression match; and approximate match.

Using either the exact match or the approximate match model allows forthe possibility of matching a prefix of the input. In one embodiment, aprefix means a contiguous portion of the SMS text that starts from thefirst character of the text. For example, prefixes of the text “HELLOWORLD” can be “H”, “HE”, “HEL”, “HELL”, “HELLO”, etc. In both an exactprefix match and a regular expression match, the match is rankedaccording to the percentage of the input it matched. If both a regularexpression match and an exact match occur in the same portion of theinput, an exact match is always given priority.

Further, each TextApp in one embodiment is associated with a sessiontimeout. After the timeout period expires, a user is moved to a global“start” state, regardless of the state in which he or she was in whenthe timeout occurred. A TextAppServer is configured with a base filesystem directory. Deploying a TextApp is as simple as creating a newdirectory in the TextAppServer containing a state machine description inthe file ‘statemachine.xml’. Undeploying a TextApp is accomplished bydeleting the directory or renaming the ‘statemachine.xml’ file tosomething else. The state machine description is described in an XMLdocument, which has to conform to a specific XML Schema Definition(XSD). As such, in one embodiment, state machines are files containingdata in XML format that follow a specific syntax and structure. Statemachines can be created, for example, by using the StarUML™ open sourceprogram.

In one embodiment, each marketing campaign is provided as a series ofstates. Transitions between states occur when there is input from a useror because of an internal change to the system state (for example due toa timeout). Many campaigns have a set of similar states. For example,substantially all campaigns have a “Start” state and most require an“Enrolment” state. The platform transitions from a Start state to anEnrolment state when a mobile device user has indicated a desire tointeract with the mobile marketing platform in some way (for example byaccessing a URL). The Enrolment state requests enrolment informationfrom the mobile device user and the user's response to the requestbecomes an event which causes a state transition (for example to a“Confirmation” state which confirms to the user that he or she inenrolled). The use of a state machine permits a runtime system to bebuilt that is capable of functioning with an arbitrary number of users.

FIG. 18 shows an illustrative state machine in accordance with anembodiment of the invention in which the user input is solicited (0signifies the user input). The state machine may include a set ofactions (code) that may optionally be specified and executed by theplatform when transiting states.

Scripted functionality is resolved according to a “resolver” componentthat may be handed over to the state machine for execution. This featureis used in the Mobile Service Manager (“MSM”), described above, to allowservices to provide their different scripting functions to their textapplications. BeanShell (BSH) scripts can also be listed inside a“script” element. These scripts define functions that can be used inBoolean guard and non-terminable action expressions. The followingexamples serve as an illustrative, informal example of what the formatmay resemble according to an embodiment of the invention. One example ofglobal rules is as follows:

<at>   <anystate/>   <when>     <input>CHAT</input>    <guard>!isRegistered(msisdn)</guard>     <transition>      <state>acceptingTerms</state>       <action>sms(msisdn, “Welcometo the chat service of Vizzavi. To register, you must accept the termsand conditions in www.vizzavi.gr. Please text ACCEPT to acceptthese”)</action>     </transition>   </when>   <when>    <input>MATCH</input>     <guard>isRegistered(msisdn)</guard>    <action>sms(msisdn,“Your name is:”+name+“ There are”+mboxSz(msisdn)+“ msgs in your maibox.\nCurrently there are”+numberOfUsers( )+“ users available for chatting!”)</action>   </when>  ... </at>An example of local rules is as follows:

<at>   <state>acceptingTerms</state>   <when>     <input>ACCEPT</input>    <transition>       <state>selectingName</state>      <action>sms(msisdn, “Send the nickname you want to use - it mustnot be longer than 8 characters and must not contain spaces or specialcharacters e.g. LUVRBOY1”)</action>     </transition>   </when>   <when>    <prefix/>     <action>sms(msisdn, “You must accept the terms andconditions in www.vizzavi.gr. (text ACCEPT) for this service. Tounregister, do not send any more messages”)</action>   </when> </at>

When a mobile device uses mobile browser applications (such as a WAPbrowser) to access WAP pages and content, the system is required toretrieve data (such as text, and information) and content (such asimages) and present them to the device according to its capabilities. Tocommunicate with a mobile device, the system separates data (what toshow) and presentation (how to show it—the appearance of the content onthe mobile display). In order to deliver content in this way, the firststep is to separate content creation from content serving. In oneembodiment, the content is expressed in XML, since XML isplatform-independent and malleable. Serving the content is a matter oftransforming the XML into the desired format of the mobile device.Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) is utilized in the transformation.

A Java Server Page technology takes content and converts it through atemplate into HTML-based content for display on the mobile device asshown in the JSP-like model of FIG. 19. One embodiment of the invention,however, takes the template and converts the content to XML which,through an Extensible Stylesheet Language Transform (XSLT), converts thecontent to HTML.

FIG. 20 depicts the steps and the information flow in such amethodology. Information flows from the top to the bottom. In thisembodiment, in the top portion, various content modules produced by Javaor SQL are used to produce transient XML fragments (for example the pageformat and data from a requested catalogue search). These transientfragments are combined, as one moves down through the steps. Thesefragments are used to produce the final transient XML documentcontaining the content to be displayed. Once all data and partialtransient XML are accumulated into a single XML document, then (as shownin the row before the last one) XSLTs are applied to transform thesingle XML document into the various formats (HTML, SOAP, XML etc.) thatare displayable by the various mobile devices.

The following example demonstrates the last step of FIG. 20, i.e. usingan XMLWeb2 implementation to deliver the same content (as derived in theform of a raw XML file) in HTML and WML respectively, using twodifferent XSL transformations. The XML raw data are shown as:

<content name=“/cm-leaf-preview”>     <content name=“/cms:root/DynamicContent/DoctorBet/users/favorite.idd”>       <name>idd</name>      <content localname=“root/DynamicContent/DoctorBet/users/favorite.idd” name=“/builtin:text”>        <value>200</value>       </content>     </content>     <contentname=“/cms:root/Dynamic Content/DoctorBet/users/favorite.teams”>      <name>teams</name>       <content localname=“root/DynamicContent/DoctorBet/users/favorite.teams” name=“/builtin:text”>        <value>TeamA-TeamB</value>       </content>     </content>    <content name=“/cms:root/DynamicContent/DoctorBet/users/favorite.selection”>      <name>selection</name>       <content localname=“root/DynamicContent/DoctorBet/users/favorite.selection” name=“/builtin:text”>        <value>1</value>       </content>     </content>     <contentname=“/cms:root/Dynamic Content/DoctorBet/users/favorite.odds”>      <name>odds</name>       <content localname=“root/DynamicContent/DoctorBet/users/favorite.odds” name=“/builtin:text”>        <value>4.70</value>       </content>     </content>     <contentname=“/cms:root/Dynamic Content/DoctorBet/users/favorite.stake”>      <name>stake</name>       <content localname=“root/DynamicContent/DoctorBet/users/favorite.stake” name=“/builtin:text”>        <value>5/6</value>       </content>     </content> </content>

The WML output is shown as:

<?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?><wml><cardid=“Favorite”><p><br/><b>Favorite</b><br/><br/><table columns=“2”align=“CC”><tr><td><b>Game Code :</b></td><td>200</td></tr>-<tr><td><b>Teams :</b></td><td>TeamA-TeamB</td></tr><tr><td><b>Selection:</b></td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td><b>Odds:</b></td><td>4.70</td></tr><tr><td><b>Stake:</b></td><td>5/6</td></tr></table><br/><br/></p></card></wml>

The above WML document as viewed in a browser application (emulating aSONY Ericsson S700i phone) is depicted in FIG. 21A

The HTML output is shown as:

<?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?><htmlxmlns=“http://www.w3.org/1999/html” xml:lang=“en”><head><title>        Favorite</title></head><body><div><h2>Favorite</h2><br/><table><tr><tdalign=“center”>             Game Code           </td><tdalign=“center”>200</td></tr><tr><td align=“center”>             Teams          </td><td align=“center”>TeamA- TeamB</td></tr><tr><tdalign=“center”>             Selection           </td><tdalign=“center”>1</td></tr><tr><td align=“center”>             Odds          </td><td align=“center”>4.70</td></tr><tr><td align=“center”>            Stake           </td><tdalign=“center”>5/6</td></tr></table></div></body></html>The above HTML document as viewed in a browser application is depictedin FIG. 21B.

The Reporting Module

Similarly, the reporting module allows the user to generate informationabout campaigns designed using the system or otherwise used by a givenentity. The reporting module includes a toolset that helps facilitateauditing and reporting to ensure advertising dollar expenditure can becorrelated with sales results and customer interest. The reportingmodule can be used to track the performance of campaigns and activitiesrelative to set performance targets. With each activity in a particularadvertising campaign, a system of metrics is defined. Further, for eachmetric, a target is set during the design of a given campaign or for ametric associated with a given campaign. The values of the metrics aredynamically generated from the consumer interaction with the campaign.As a result of these features, the type of the activity, the allocatedbudget and the performance of the campaign can all be correlated. As ageneral matter, higher budgets allocated to a campaign correspond tohigher targets being set.

Furthermore, the reporting module allows for performance tracking of abrand's objectives. The performance of an objective, being associatedwith metrics, is influenced by the performance of campaigns that includeactivities linked with these metrics. As a result, the end userinteraction with a running campaign influences the brand's objectivesand allows the advertiser to measure the effect of his actions, andproceed with corrective actions by e.g. re-allocating the availablebudget. As an additional feature, the reporting module allows a givenuser of the platform to proceed with corrective actions when the systemindicates poor campaign performance. In the instance of a problematicscenario, such as when the projection of the current campaignperformance—measured using the metrics system—indicates that thecampaigns targets will not be met, the platform includes certain alertfeatures. In such an instance, the platform can notify the advertiserand seek consultation to take corrective actions. Further, in someembodiments, when a deviation from goal objectives occurs, selection ofcorrective actions can be automated using a rules engine or otherapproaches.

According to one embodiment, the mobile marketing platform providesreporting tools to present campaign data in a cogent and efficientmanner. A platform user may view reports and associated data at brandlevel using an “Executive Dashboard” 2200 (FIG. 22) and a “ClientDashboard” 2300 (FIG. 23). Portions of reports and data may also bepresented categorically under a “Budget” or “Objective” view.

The “Executive Dashboard” 2200 depicts the budget broken out byadvertising and marketing, utilized and unutilized, and by quarter forindividual campaigns, individual customers, or by groups of customers.The user can also see the geographic distribution, and the schedule ofcampaigns. Similarly, the “Client Dashboard” 2300 displays the campaign,the budget, the objectives and the schedule of campaigns for the clientincluding task lists. Again, portions of the reports are incorporated inthe “Budget” and “Objective” view.

Finally, additional analytics can be obtained about a given campaignutilizing the Campaign Analytics 2400 (FIG. 24) screen. From this onescreen, the user can see the campaigns, demographics, lists of tasks andreports available for download.

Example Campaign Activities

The mobile marketing platform allows marketers to quickly execute andmonitor many campaigns simultaneously. This results in increasedpotential revenues from shorter time to market and larger volumes ofcampaigns, while reducing operational costs. The platform also makes useof additional components designed and integrated to increase theeffectiveness breadth of an advertising campaign. Embodiments of thecomponents described below may be integrated seamlessly with mobilemarketing platform. The illustrative activities described herein arecreated or adapted from templates within the execution module describedabove as part of the design and execution of an advertising or marketingcampaign.

Mobile TV and Video Manager

Another embodiment of the present invention includes a mobile TV andvideo advertising manager that enables the campaign creator to includeinterstitial ads into streaming and downloadable video content. Themanager may be implemented as an activity template, described above, aspart of the mobile marketing platform. A user-interface of the mobile TVand video advertising manager is shown in FIG. 25 according to oneembodiment of the invention. The mobile TV and video manager is anactivity management tool for uploading video ads and publishing them asinterstitial ads in a Mobile TV or Video on Demand service. The managerallows the campaign designer to mix content with the advertisement onthe fly, handle several types of downloadable and streamable events, andoffer discounted pricing if the end-user selects to view the contentwith the advertisement instead of viewing the content without theadvertisement.

The mobile TV and video manager activity template has been extended toadvertisement insertion in Digital Video Broadcasting—Terrestrial(“DVB-T”) broadcasts, as depicted in FIG. 26. A flow diagram of thebroadcast systems is depicted in FIG. 26 in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. According to one embodiment, the broadcastchannel is unidirectional and includes video, audio and data. It isestablished from the service provider to the users. It can include theforward interactive path. The Interactive channel is bi-directional andis established between the service provider and the end-user forinteractive purposes. It is formulated by a return channel from the userto the service provider, which is used to make requests, provideacknowledgement, message response, voting etc. The return channel isnarrowband. A forward interactive path from the service provider to theuser is used to transport interactive services data or relatedinformation from the service provider to the user. The forwardinteractive path is the channel for inclusion of the targetedinterstitial advertisements served by the system. The forwardinteractive path can be embedded in the broadcast channel or bediscrete. The Network Interface Unit includes the Broadcast InterfaceModule and the Interactive Interface Module. The interface modules areembedded with the terminal equipment in the User's Terminal so that theterminal can have the interfaces for both the Broadcast channel and theInteractive Channel.

The DVB-x protocols do not specify return channels associated with eachbroadcast system because these systems must maintain compatibility withdifferent return channel technologies. Embodiments of the inventioninclude systems and applications for an interactive GPRS channel withthe capability for advertisement insertion in the forwarding path.Embodiments of the invention also include the terminal client fordisplaying the advertisement and gathering end-user responses forbilling and reconciliation purposes. While embodiments described hereinmay be applied to DVB-T, it may be adapted to match other transmissionsystems (e.g. satellite, cable, MATV etc.)

Product Reservation System Using 2D Codes

One embodiment of the invention includes a reservations-enquiry systemin conjunction with the mobile marketing platform, utilizing a methodfor end-customers of retail-shops/chains with mobile handsets via mobileSMS/MMS messaging services to acquire information about productsavailability in retail shops inventory based on retail-stores cataloguenumbers. Embodiments further allow end-customers to reserve availableproducts in retail-shops for future purchases over the counter usingeither simple reservation identification strings or MMS-encoded imagesof 2D scanable identifiers such as barcodes. The system allows for usersof mobile handsets with SMS/MMS messages services enabled to inquireabout the availability of certain products by sending SMS messages to apredefined mobile messaging service point (identified by a longcode or5-6-digit shortcode mobile telephone number) with predefined syntaxincluding the catalogue product ID in question and, optionally, theretail-shop identification number. Further, the reservation and scanableidentifier aspects of the invention further allow a mobile device userto receive information for product availability from the system by meansof one-or-more SMS messages containing information about theavailability of the requested product, including the location of storesand the number of current inventory for the product.

Similarly, using the systems and methods recited herein, a mobile deviceor advertising platform user can make a reservation for a specificproduct in a specific retail-store inventory by sending an SMS with thepredefined syntax including the catalogue ID of the product and a stringidentifying the location of the retails store. The system can also offeran SMS dialogue to the end-user, allowing him to provide additionalinformation, if necessary, in a text-friendly way.

A device user can also receive a reservation ticket in the form of astring ID or 2D bar-code via SMS/MMS in case of a successful reservationrequest, that can be used as proof of reservation in retail stores.According to one embodiment, two types of proofs of purchase areprovided in forms of reservation IDs: a) a unique string up to 160characters based on the GSM 3.38 character set delivered as a single SMSmessage; and b) a 2D-barcode image delivered in the form of an MMSmessage. These reservation IDs can be used with corresponding readers inretail stores to confirm a reservation for a predefined time period. Oneskilled in the are should recognize that any known scanable identifiers,such as 2D-bar codes, Aztec Code, bCode, Data Matrix, may be utilizedwithout deviating from the scope of the invention. In some embodiments,the reservation ticket message (SMS/MMS) is accompanied by a secondinformational SMS message informing the user that reservation has beensuccessful with details of the reservation (product ID, description,price, store location, and expiration date). As another implementation,a mobile device can be used to send and receive HELP information foravailable syntax, or other usage inquiries.

In addition to the embodiments described above, aspects of the inventioninclude several features for administration of a scanable,identifier-based advertising campaign or activity. These features can beintegrated in the mobile advertising platform discussed above. Themobile marketing platform may be linked to the advertiser's retailoperations, allowing the targeted audiences of the advertising campaignto view, purchase and otherwise interact with a retailer in anelectronic marketplace. Specifically, administrative users of the systemcan update a catalogue of offered products, update the list ofretail-store locations and identification number, enable/disableinformation/reservation SMS/MMS services for specific catalogue productsand/or retail/stores, define whether a reservation for a specificproduct will be delivered via SMS string message or MMS 2D-barcode, viewstatistics on the popularity of enquiries and reservations of productsvia SMS/MMS service and other functionalities as embodied in differentsystem implementations.

Using the techniques and systems disclosed herein it is possible todynamically define the content of confirmation messages (for exampleinclude the most popular product reserved by all users), define thecontent of HELP messages, define the reservation period for reservationsperformed over SMS/MMS for specific product ID and retail-stores,control the configuration parameters for integration with electronicpurchasing systems and to control the configuration parameters forintegration with retail-store chain inventory systems.

Reserving and Purchasing Event Tickets

In another aspect, the invention provides additional advertising andmarketing capabilities including systems and methods for alerting amobile handset user when an artist or band they are interested inannounces a new event in a specific geographical area. In oneembodiment, a user pre-registers interest for their favorite artists ona web site, and provisionally inputs their personal and creditpurchasing details, in the provided secure electronic wallet. When a newevent they are interested in is announced, the system alerts the user bySMS about the event and the user can reserve tickets for it, by SMS,internet or mobile internet. When an event's tickets go on sale, thesystem alerts the user again by SMS, in order for them to complete thepurchase of their reservation, by SMS, internet or mobile internetagain. In addition, the user has always the option to purchase ticketsfor interesting events, even if they have not reserved them before, ifsuch tickets are available.

This entertainment centric aspect of the invention enables users ofmobile handsets with SMS/MMS messages services enabled to registerinterest and electronic wallet details to specific artists/band andpreferred geographical area by filling their details in website. Theseare communicated to the central system, for storing and later use.Device users can also receive SMS alerts related to their registrationfor musical events occurring in the geographical area of interest viaSMS messages or WAP push messages including references to related WAPpages. Further, users of this aspect of the invention are also able toreceive SMS alerts when tickets for musical events related to artists orlocations of interest go-on sale by informing the user of the musicalevent and offering them instructions on how to reserve/purchase aticket. In another embodiment, device users can receive SMS alerts whenticket for musical events related to artists/location of interest whenthey go-on sale by informing the user of the musical event and offeringthem instructions on how to reserve/purchase a ticket.

Product Reservation System

An exemplarily flow diagram for a reservation system for reserving aproduct for future purchase according to an embodiment of the inventionis described in FIG. 27. The overall system implementation offers acomplete, effective, secure, controlled, innovative, user-friendly andubiquitous channel for end-users to interact with ticketreservation/purchasing systems via SMS/MMS messaging services. Thesystem satisfies all possible needs of events/venues businesses forreservation/e-purchases over mobile messaging systems for theforeseeable future.

As shown in the figure, the Consumer initially requests information forretail-chain products in specific shops, requests and receivesreservation for purchase of available products in specific shops, andreceives 1D-2D ticket over SMS/MMS.

A Retail Chain Inventory system (“RCIS”), which may be centralized or adistributed system, performs inquiries for products availability inretail-chain stores, performs reservations for products in retail-chainstores and create corresponding linear reservation IDs (strings ofcharacters, linear), and offers verification of reservation IDs (stringsof characters).

A Mobile Inventory Reservation System (“MIRS”) receives SMS fromconsumers and translates them to RCIS requests, receives RCIS responsesto inquiries and translates to informational SMS messages relayed to theconsumers, and receives RCIS responses to reservations requests andtranslates reservation IDs to 1D encrypted string or 2D barcode images.The translated reservation IDs are relayed to the end-user as SMS (for1D encrypted strings up to 160 characters) or MMS (for more than 160characters) with MIRS methodology (including necessary information fromuser profile-like personal info and mobile handset MSISDN to protectreservation information in MIRS encrypted scheme).

As part of the system, a RCIS-MIRS reader accepts MIRS encryptedreservation data from a mobile handset via Bluetooth, or other wirelesstransmission, for an SMS/MMS 1D/2D reservation IDs, or via a scanner,such as a scanning camera, for MMS IDs and de-encrypts the data toverify the reservation with RCIS system.

According to one implementation of the reservation system, a series ofactions are performed. Initially, a consumer's request for a reservationis sent to MIRS via a mobile-originated (“MO”) SMS. Next, the MIRSrequests a reservation from the RCIS for a user profile and therequested product. The RCIS receives a successful response from the RCISwith a RCIS reservation ID. In turn, the RCIS combines the reservationID and the unique user profile info to one mobile-terminated (“MT”)message of either a SMS 160 characters message, or a MMS with 2D barcodeimage and additional meta-data. Further, the MT message is transmittedto the consumer. A consumer presents the MT message to the MIRS-RCISreader. This transmission, according to one embodiment utilizesBluetooth wireless technology; however, any suitable wireless protocolcan be used. This method can be used for both SMS and MMS encodedreservations. The MT message is presented to the MIRS-RCIS reader, anoptical camera in one embodiment, connected to MIRS-RCIS controller. TheMIRS-RCIS reader controller relays the received MT message and performsa request for verification for the encrypted message to MIRS withadditional info (for example, consumer MSISDN). Also, the RCIS performsverification and returns success and reserved product information.Finally, an operator can present the consumer with its reserved product.

WAP Site Design

Another embodiment of the mobile marketing platform includes auser-friendly and efficient tool for the creation of mobile web sites.The ability to edit pages for display on a mobile device raises manychallenges when preparing an ad campaign. This system solves theseproblems. Aspects of the web design tool include pre-configuredtemplates that are adaptable and customizable to give a designercomplete control over the visual layout of the site and a near “what yousee is what you get” (“WYSISYG”) editing environment with drag-and-dropfunctionality and a rich set of pre-configured components to beincorporated in the page design. The design tool also provides seamlessintegration with the mobile marketing platform and storefrontfunctionality described above. The design tool provides dynamicadaptation of pages and components according to the capabilities of themobile device accessing the page.

According to one embodiment, the design tool includes a first screendisplayed to a user, or editor, after a successful login. The editorthen selects the “Create new site” function. The system presents adialog in which the user specifies the site Title, Short Name andCodepage. The user enters the information and selects “Next” to go tothe next step or “Cancel” to abort the new site creation process. Thesystem then presents a dialog with the options to create a site fromscratch, create a site by copying an existing site, or create a site bycloning a model site (from a template).

If the user selects “Create from scratch,” the system displays an editscreen. If the user selects to create a site by copying an existingsite, the system displays a list of existing sites (with a title andshort name for each) from which the user can select the one to copy. Theuser selects the site and then selects “Create.” The system creates anew site which is a copy of the selected one and displays the editscreen.

If the editor opts to create a site by cloning a model site, the systemdisplays a list of existing model sites (with a title and short name foreach) from which the user can select the site to clone. Upon selecting amodel site, a set of thumbnail images is displayed for the templatescontained within the site. The editor selects the model site and thenselects “Create.” The system creates a new site which is an identicalcopy of the selected one and displays the edit screen. The system, ifcopying an existing site or selecting a model site, copies everythingfrom the existing or model site into the new site, including all siteproperties, the sitemap, the templates, the pages, the site contentlibrary (not a copy of the structure), and the references to othercontent in the content management system. Creating a new site by copyingan existing one results in a new site unaffiliated and separate from theoriginal. Any change to the original site will not change the onecreated as a copy.

Once a site is created, the editor can edit the page. The systempresents the page edit screen, with the editing canvas, the availablepage elements and the properties box that displays the properties of theselected element (and allows for editing values). The editing canvas isa near WYSIWIG representation of the page, where the page sections areshown (as defined from the template in use) and the page elements can beplaced in or removed from using a drag-and-drop methodology.

The user can drag and drop elements in and out of the canvas, edit theproperties of an element placed on the canvas, check the propertiesavailable for an element before placing it on the canvas, or edit thepage properties. In addition, the user may be prevented from editing(change properties or drag elements in and out of) locked sections andlocked containers (as defined in the template in use) but may be able toselect a locked section or container to see its properties. A containeris an area, such as a rectangular area, within a section of a page whereone or more page elements can be placed. A container can be used tocontrol the placement and background of the elements within the section(such as alignment and background color). The use of containers alsoallows for controlling formatting at the section level by providingadjustable spacing between containers in the same section. Additionally,the user may not be able to edit the page element properties marked aslocked in the page template (locking applies to group of properties),but may be able to see the locked properties disabled for editing.

The editor finishes editing the page by selecting “Save changes on sameversion” or “Save changes as new version.” If the user selects “Savechanges on same version,” the system warns that changes will be saved onthe same version of the page. If the editor selects “Commit changes,”the page is saved with as same version. If the editor selects “Return topage editing,” the system returns to page edit mode. If the user selects“Save changes as new version,” the system displays a dialog where theeditor can write comments or leave it blank. There are two selectionsavailable on this window, one to save (“Commit changes”) and one toreturn to page editing (“Return to page editing”). If the editor selects“Commit,” the page is saved as a new version with the associatedcomments, if any. If the editor selects “Return to page editing,” thesystem returns to edit mode. If the user selects “Discard changes,” thesystem warns that the changes will be lost. If the editor selects“Changes will be lost,” the system closes the page edit screen. If theeditor selects “Return to page editing,” the system returns to page editmode.

The editor is also presented with options to change or edit certain siteproperties, such as the title, or codepage. Another function presentedto the editor includes an option to view the sitemap. Selecting thisoption displays a graphical representation of the sitemap with symboliclinks between pages corresponding to actual relative links within thesite. The editor can select a page on the sitemap and then the choose toview the page which opens the page in read-only mode, or the editor maychoose to edit the page which opens the page in full edit mode. Thesystem automatically constructs the sitemap by following internalhyperlinks between pages of the site. Hyperlinks to external pages arenot followed. A page is not necessarily linked in from other pages inthe same site. Such a page, according to one embodiment is labelled as“orphan page” in the sitemap.

The user, after creating and editing the site, can go live with thechanges by choosing to publish the changes to the current site. The userselects “Publish now,” “Schedule publish” (and enters the date and timeof publishing or selects it from a calendar, also the email address ofthe person or list which will receive the notification after publishing)or “Cancel.” If “Publish now” is selected, the system proceeds withpublishing the site. A progress window is shown that shows the status ofthe publishing, such as, “Publishing, please wait . . . ” or “Publishedsuccessfully” or “Not published.”

After the publishing is completed, the user can select “View log” tocheck what has happened in any case. If “Schedule publish” is selected,the system creates the publishing job for the site and schedules it forthe specified date and time. After the scheduled publishing has beencompleted, the system, according to one embodiment, sends an emailnotification to the designated email addresses in any case (success orfailure). During the publishing process, no change to the site templatesand pages is allowed. One embodiment of the invention allows the user topublish to a different site name to avoid tampering with a live site andthen choose to publish the site (replacing the previous version) oncommand or at a scheduled time. The final site can then serve variouspurposes such as a destination or social portal for a mobile adcampaign.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the mobile site designeris transparently integrated with the mobile marketing platform. Whendefining and setting up an activity for a marketing or advertisingcampaign, the campaign designer can designate a landing page created bythe site design tool when a customer participates in the campaign. Forexample, if the customer clicks an advertisement or a hyperlinkassociated with a campaign, the user is taken to a site in the mobiledevice browser created by the site design tool. The landing page mayinclude further information about the advertisement or contest, or maybe a storefront page as described above where a user can reserve orpurchase a product.

FIGS. 28A-G depict certain visual displays presented to a user increating a mobile web site, as described above, in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. The visual displays and other depictions inFIGS. 28A-G are non-limiting embodiments of the invention and oneskilled in the art should recognize that alternatives to thoseconstraints listed below are part of the invention.

An entry page (FIG. 28A) is presented to the user upon logging into theapplication when editing the template of the mobile site. On theright-hand side of the screen, the user can view and edit the templateproperties and at the bottom of the screen, the user is able to drag anddrop the page elements on the page. On the left-hand side, the user willbe able to access the site-tree view of the mobile site and on thecenter of canvas the user will be able to access the design view foreach template and page that creates. Using the Plus (+) icon, the userwill be able to create a new site, template or page. When the userselects to create a site, a pop-up window (FIG. 28B) appears. The usercan start by creating a new site from scratch, copy one of the existingsites or clone one of the model sites. If the user selects to create asite by copying an existing one, the user will view a list with thesites and templates associated with this function.

If the user decides to create a new site by cloning an existing one, theuser may view a list with the model sites and all templates associatedwith this function. The model sites are not user specific, but global toall the users. The user can also create a new template (FIG. 28C) bygiving a name and associating it with existing mobile site. The user cancreate a template from scratch, by copying an existing template orcloning a model template. If the user selects to create a template bycopying an existing one, the user may view a list with the templates anda preview for the selected template. If the user decides to create a newtemplate by cloning an existing one, the user may view a list with themodel templates. The model templates are not user specific but global toall the users of the application.

The user can create a new page (FIG. 28D) by providing a name andassociating it with an existing mobile site. The user is able to createa new page from scratch or copy an existing page. In case the userselects to create a page by copying an existing one the user will view alist with the pages and a preview for the selected page.

In order to manage the sites, the user will be able to view the site viaa tree structure (FIG. 28E). This view includes templates, pages andpublished content. When the user creates a mobile site, templates orpages, the user can publish any of them in specific locations byselecting the relevant node and pressing the relevant button on thedrop-down menu. The user will also be able to un-publish sites,templates and pages by specifying publication locations.

When the user selects to publish a page (or site) a popup window appearsand the user is able to select one or more of the publication locationsavailable. One of those locations can be set as default. The samefunctionality and pop-up window appears when the user wants to publishthe site in a specific location. When the user selects to un-publish apage from a location a pop up window appears. The same page could bepublished in one or more locations and the user will be able toun-publish it from any of them. The same functionality and pop-up windowappears when the user wants to un-publish the site from one or morepublication location.

FIG. 28F is a pop-up screen which is displayed in order to add mobilecontent to the page. The user can specify a content category, a name forthe collection and continues to the next screen. The user can choose oneof the specified content templates in order to present the content tothe mobile device.

An illustrative web page created by the site designer is shown in FIG.28G. In the example above, one can see the component elements of thepage. The page includes three sections, top (named “Header”), middle(not named) and bottom (named “Footer”). Each section of the page ofthis embodiment has its own background color. A division of the middlesection delineates containers where the user can place page elements.According to the embodiment shown, the template selected has locked theheader and footer content, but allows the editor to customize and editthe content in the containers. The containers can include content suchas images, text, hyperlinks, logos, banners, video etc.

Mobile Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”)

According to one embodiment of the invention, the mobile markingplatform includes a Mobile CRM with a Mobile communities manager toenable the formation of mobile communities. While the mobile communitiesmanager is a part of the Mobile CRM module the terms, as used herein,the term may be used interchangeably to describe the features of thesystem. The manager provides easy to use activity wizards that coverloyalty clubs and user generated content communities type of activities.The Mobile CRM manages the interactivity with subscribers in order toenhance participation, and analyze member behaviour. A community is acollection of users who have consented to participate in communityevents by sharing demographic or psychographic data and content.Subscribers may register as members of a community via SMS, WEB, andWAP.

The Mobile Communities Manager enables the formation of mobilecommunities, manages the interactivity with subscribers throughbroadcasts in order to enhance participation, and analyzes memberbehavior accordingly. The Mobile Communities Manager provides the toolsto analyze the community using different views, e.g. pie charts andgraphs.

The Mobile CRM also enables the communication with community members viabroadcasts. Different broadcast types are supported, such as, withoutlimitation advertisements, informational messages, and broadcasts thatgive away mobile coupons or initiate games such as trivia questions. Abroadcast response is fed back to the system and transformed intoconsumer intelligence.

According to one embodiment, the Mobile CRM includes two modules,Communities and Broadcasts, and is split into two panels, as viewedthrough a Mobile Communities Dashboard, shown in FIG. 29. The Broadcastspanel and menu are displayed by default, in one embodiment. The mainpanel is the starting point for navigating around the Mobile CRM. Themain panel provides account-specific information depending on the optionchosen (Broadcasts or Communities) and the functionality to set up a newcommunity or broadcast. The Broadcasts and Communities panels showinformation related to a specific broadcast or community, and enables auser to modify the settings and members' data. A drop down menu ispresented to allow the user to select an account upon login. In oneembodiment, the user must select an account before attempting to use anyapplication of the Mobile Marketing Platform.

The functionality and the reporting features are provided on thedashboard interface. The account-specific dashboard of the MobileCommunities Manager provides data related to the communities and thefunctionality to create a new community, to edit the settings of acommunity, and to edit the segments of a community. In addition, thedashboard provides the functionality to manage members' detailsindividually. The Mobile Communities Manager also enables the creationand management of broadcasts for direct communication with communitymembers. The functionality to create a new community and edit it isprovided on the dashboard. The broadcasts' properties and other data aredisplayed on the dashboard. The Mobile Communities Manager enablescustomer profiling and segmentation to allow for targeted broadcasting.Segments can define the micro-community of subscribers for a particularbroadcast. Segment creation is possible due to attributes orcharacteristics that can be defined by the user and pertain to onecommunity only. The user can also edit attributes in an AttributesEditor. Segment creation and definition is explained below in furtherdetail.

To create a new community, a user selects the button corresponding (+)on the main panel to display a popup window. In the Activity Profilepanel, the user may enter a unique name for this activity. In the Startsfield, the user may enter the start date of the promotion, or click anicon next to the field to select the date and time on the calendarpopup. In the Ends field, the user may enter the end date of theactivity, or click an icon next to the field to select the date and timeon the calendar popup. A Shortcode Settings panel appears next allowingthe user to select the shortcode on which the activity will run. Theuser also may select the keyword(s) to associate with this activity froma Keywords panel.

Embodiments of the Mobile CRM allow a user to create, modify, enroll anddelete consumers, modify consumer biographies, import and export membersof other associated communities. In the mobile communities manager,member and attributes management is performed through Wizards. Memberscan be added automatically, that is, by importing data from an existingfile, or by manually entering that data. To import members' data, theuser must import a file that contains all the data. The Wizard canimport the data, display it, and ask the user to review and confirm theimport. To add members' data manually, the user must enter the data invarious fields provided in the Wizard. The data will be associated withthe users' MSISDNs, and may include personal, psychographic (interests,attitudes, opinions), and demographic details. The user can also searchfor members using certain criteria, based on the personal,psychographic, or demographic details that have already been providedand registered in the Mobile Communities Manager. Search results areexported automatically by the Mobile Communities Manager. The user candelete one or more members if they wish. To do so, they can eitherdelete a member by MSISDN, or they must perform a search to find themember or members they wish to delete, and then delete them.

A Mobile CRM user may also create targeted segments of communities foradvanced advertising campaigns in conjunction with the mobile marketingplatform. Segments can define the micro-community of subscribers for aparticular broadcast. The user can add segments by launching the AddSegment Wizard, shown as FIG. 30. The user can define as many segmentsas they wish using any number of selection criteria. Segment data mayinclude personal, psychographic, and/or demographic details.

According to one embodiment, broadcasts are used to send a single set ofdata or content to multiple users within a defined group, i.e. acommunity. The Mobile CRM enables the user to set up an infinite numberof broadcasts once a community (or communities) has been set up. Whencreating a new broadcast, the user inputs a unique name for thebroadcast. From drop-down lists the user can select the type of thebroadcast, the type of tag, as well as the start and end dates.Alternatively, the user may select to begin the broadcast uponcompletion of the set-up tool. The user may also define a rate ofrecurrence at which the broadcast will be periodically repeated.

As described above, the user can create a targeted segment to define aspecific audience for the distribution of the broadcast. Targeting theaudience based on a certain demographic criteria (e.g., male, over 21,and single) allows the campaign to reach those consumers who would findthe most value in the content of the broadcast. Additional detailsrelating to the broadcast module are discussed above with respect toFIG. 3.

In another embodiment, the mobile marketing platform integrates andinteracts with a mobile community built over a social network. Socialnetworking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, and LinkedIn,allow user-created communities as a forum of communicating and sharinginformation and other content, such as photos, audio, and video to abroad audience. Embodiments of the invention include the creation of amobile community in an existing social network in which the communitymay be associated with an advertising or marketing campaign created bythe mobile marketing platform. The campaign designer, through the mobilemarketing platform can create, edit, and distribute content across themobile community to reach a broader audience. For example, if amarketing campaign is directed to a product, e.g. Product X, during thecreation of the marketing campaign using the mobile marketing platformdescribed herein, the campaign designer may create a mobile communitycalled “Product X Community” or any other identifiable community namewithin a social network.

Users belonging to the social network may be given the option of joiningthe community in order to receive special offers, discounts, prizes orother content. In one embodiment, information about the mobile communitymay be transmitted to a user on the user's mobile device. Theinformation may be in the form an SMS message, MMS message, or via anadvertisement displayed in a WAP web site. The user may click a linkwithin the message or advertisement and be sent to a landing pagehosting the mobile community (such as one designed using the embodimentsdisclosed herein). From the mobile community page, the user can readabout the community and what the community has to offer to customers.

In addition, the user may be given the opportunity to join the communityin order to obtain additional information, discounts, prizes or othercontent or information relating to the subject of the community. In oneembodiment the social network may be a third party site, such asFacebook. Alternatively, the social network may be any network createdfor the subject matter of the marketing campaign. For example, a“Product X” social network may be created independently, offering manyof the traditional services and products offered by third partynetworks, including user-created content.

Targeted customers who join the mobile communities may sign up toreceive alerts, such as emails or SMS/MMS messages with special offersavailable only to members of the community. The alerts may betransmitted to the customers pursuant to rules set forth by the campaignmanager/creator. Examples of alerts may include features and contentintegrated as modules within the Mobile Marketing Platform, such aslimited-time offers, new releases of products or services, launching ofnew contests and the awarding of prizes, etc.

The campaign manager, through the use of the communities, can trackmembership as well as monitor advertising metrics and demographics. Forexample, a member of a community may have a biographic profile withinthe social network listing the user's age, gender, geographic location,relationship status, interests and activities—all key elements that arevital to successfully reaching the intended audience of a targetedadvertising campaign.

The Mobile CRM integrates seamlessly with the mobile marketing platformproviding an opportunity to increase brand loyalty and target consumerswith advertising and marketing campaigns. For example, one embodiment ofthe Mobile CRM includes a Mobile Club activity in which customers join aLoyalty Club built around specific products/services by submitting theirbasic demographic data. Customers can register via Web, WAP or SMS. Uponregistration customers start receiving product/service related messagesfrom the sponsor.

Another Mobile CRM template includes a “Join to Win” activity in whichcustomers join a branded loyalty club by submitting basic demographicdata to register via Web, WAP or SMS. Customers can enter varioussweepstakes and draws during predetermined time periods. Uponregistration members will receive periodically branded messages from thesponsor.

Another activity template included with the Mobile CRM is an activityentitled “Pointmania” in which customers join a Loyalty Club builtaround specific products/services by submitting their basic demographicdata via Web, WAP or SMS. Upon registration customers start receivingbranded messages from the sponsor. When customers purchase the productsor use the services they collect points through the Loyalty Club toredeem for different prizes.

FIG. 31 depicts a flow diagram representing a mobile device interfaceand a consumer's interaction with the Mobile CRM according to twoembodiments of the invention. (D1 and D2) Upon seeing or hearing anadvertisement, either though a mobile device or via any otheradvertising channel, a user may send an SMS message (A) to a givenshortcode address, phone number, or other address, with an appropriatecode response. The platform then responds (B) with a message asking forfurther details by which the user can be categorized or otherwiseprofiled. The user responds (C) with another message, stating his name,gender and age in the illustrative example. If the activity is one basedon a product offering points for purchasing products, the platformresponds with a message (D1) confirming the addition to the club andreminding the user to submit product codes to receive points foradditional merchandise. If the activity is designed to provideadditional advertising or marketing content, such as coupons, productnews, or other content associated with a product, the platform canrespond with a message (D2) confirming enrolment and notifying the userof future messages. One skilled in the art should recognize that the SMSmessages shown in FIG. 31 represent two scenarios by which a Mobile CRMuser may communicate with a consumer. Each activity is designedseparately and independently and the dual-purpose of screens (A), (B)and (C) is merely to simplify explanation of the embodiments herein anddemonstrate the common features offered by certain of the modulesdescribed herein.

Interactive Screens

According to one embodiment of the invention a mobile marketing platformuser may implement an activity including a network of interactivescreens or kiosks (as described above). Interactive screens may beequipped with sensors to sense an environment and are capable ofinteracting with consumers to provide addition content associated withan advertising or marketing campaign. The interactive screens areinterconnected with a content management system (“CMS”). The screensalso have mobile connectivity allowing consumers to interact with thescreen/kiosk by sending and receiving messages to his/her mobile device.Network interconnection allows for monitoring and changing the screen'sinterface as well as refreshing the content provided. The success of aninteractive screen campaign may be measured through unified metrics(mobile downloads and interface visit metrics).

The platform user is able to set up a new interactive screen applicationthrough a wizard interface. According to one embodiment, creating newInteractive Screens utilizes input from the platform user making theimplementation partially automated. For example in a “GeneralConfiguration” section of the wizard the system may simply store thecorresponding settings associated with the activity, but will not applythem automatically to the activity. Alternatively, in a “ContentSelection” section of the wizard, and upon the platform user'scompletion of the wizard, the selected content items will beautomatically published by the CMS.

In the “General Configuration” section of the wizard, the platform useris able to set a name for the Interactive Screens activity, thedescription and the duration period of the Interactive Screens activity.Further, the platform user is able to select a shortcode address whichis used for the mobile interaction of between the interactive screenactivity and the consumer, such as request by a user to retrieve or viewoffered content.

In the “Select Content” portion of the wizard, depicted in FIG. 32, theplatform user selects the content which will be offered through theinteractive screen activity. The platform user is able to selectspecific items or whole folders of content contained within the CMS,which is dynamically presented to the platform user. Selected contentcan also be deselected at the platform user's will. Exemplary content aplatform user may opt to offer as part of a campaign includes ringtonesand wallpaper for a user's mobile device, music or video offerings, orother electronic content. The content available through the interactivescreens may be web enabled allowing for a holistic web reach. Forexample, a consumer may interact on her way to work at an interactivescreen or kiosk in a retail store and then complete a more detailedbrowsing of the offering or content from the privacy of her home oroffice through her personal computer or other device.

Bluetooth Manager & Bluetooth Control Center

According to another embodiment of the invention, a Bluetooth managertemplate is included in the mobile marketing platform activities. TheBluetooth manager includes a component to handle communication betweenBluetooth hotspots located within the same network as well as theinitial setup of the hotspots. The manager may be responsible forcreating and configuring an activity, rendering and publishing theactivity content, collecting activity metrics and forwarding them to themobile marketing platform metrics manager, and triggering the START andSTOP events for each activity.

A further feature of the embodiment includes a Bluetooth control centeras the core component of the Bluetooth manager application. The controlcenter is responsible for collecting all the information of an activityand storing it locally, collecting all metric information from thehotspots and forwarding that information to the Bluetooth manager andcoordinating the activity, storing new devices and keeping track ofwhich device has received what information and by which hotspot. TheBluetooth control center ensures that if the connection with theinternet is lost the activity will continue running uninterrupted andunaware of the failure, provided that the control center has received aSTART ACTIVITY event from the mobile marketing platform. If the internetconnectivity is lost before the START ACTIVITY event is received, thenthe activity will never start. Similarly, if the activity is alreadyrunning it will never stop if the STOP ACTIVITY event is not received.However, if connectivity is restored, and the START or STOP triggers arereceived, the activity will respectively start or stop. In an internetconnectivity failure, metrics are not recorded by the mobile marketingplatform, however since the raw metric data are stored on the controlcenter, the metrics can be retrieved offline, or when connectivity isrestored. The metrics may also be retrieved by extracting the datadirectly from the control center. In one embodiment, if Internetconnectivity is lost, the application can upload collected metrics in abatch format via an autonomous functionality provided in the controlcenter.

According to one embodiment of the invention the Bluetooth manager isintegrated with the mobile marketing platform to advertise and provideadditional content to a mobile user in a defined market area, such as amall or other hotspot location. One embodiment includes an“Invite-to-Win” activity in which a user passes by a single hotspot,such as a kiosk or advertising display, and receives informative info,such as a picture/screensaver/ringtone or a mobile coupon redeemable atthe nearby store.

According to one embodiment of the invention, an interactive wizard isused to create and configure activities utilizing the Bluetooth manager.The platform user specifies the general details particular to theBluetooth activity, including, but not limited to, the name,description, and the time period when the activity will be active withinthe start and end dates of the campaign it is associated with. Theplatform user then selects the content that the activity will serve fromthe CMS. As shown in FIG. 33, the platform user may select single itemsor entire folders containing more than one item as content to be offeredupon the completion of a specified task or series of tasks. Examples ofcontent offered may include, without limitation, ringtones andwallpapers for mobile devices, music and video offerings or otherelectronic content. The platform user may also define the hotspotsthrough which the activity will be delivered to customers as well as thespecific settings of each hotspot, i.e. name of the zone of operation,the location, number of hotspots, and options for pushing andredirecting content. The platform user may also define a number ofoptions, including promotional methods for the activity, and additionalchannels through which content may be delivered, that is, SMS and WAP.Creation of the activity is finalized and the activity is ready to run.

An exemplary activity enabled by the Bluetooth manager of the mobilemarketing platform, according to one embodiment, is a “Hot or Cold”contest. The contest is a multihotspot activity and the content itemsare not pushed in a particular order. A user in a supermarket, forexample, who walks down the aisles, receives “Hot or Cold” content ormessages depending on how close he is to a particular product ofinterest. As the consumer moves closer to the product of interest hereceives “warm,” “warmer” and “hot” indications. The system may ensurethat each consumer does not receive the same content twice.

An example of the Bluetooth Manager in use with the mobile marketingplatform may include customers, upon entering a supermarket, beingprompted to switch on Bluetooth on their enabled devices. The devicesare “discovered” by the Bluetooth hotspots in the supermarket. If thereis a special offer on a given product, for example, ACME Raisin Cookies,the system endeavors to lead them to the right shelf inside the store.The user receives and accepts a message which gives a hint about wherethe specially offered product is located. If the user's location is farfrom the location of the product, a “Cold” message may be sent stating,“Find Our Cookies Special in line with cashier no. 7.” As the user findsher way to the special offer, she is identified and located by the nexthotspot, which is closer to the target product. A Warm message may thenbe sent stating, “Warm. You are steps away from getting to Our CookiesSpecial. Keep going.” The system repeats sending status messages to theuser as she gets closer or farther away from the special product. AWarmer message may state, “Warmer. You are almost there. Our CookiesSpecial is a breath away. Can you smell the raisins?” As the user findsher way in front of the right self, the nearby hotspot congratulates herwith a Hot message: “Hot. Our Cookies are at your hand. Enjoy ourspecial offer.”

Another embodiment of the invention includes a multihotspot activity,referred to herein as “Bluehunting,” that requires the content items tobe pushed sequentially to the user. The content of the activity consistsof a series of clues. Participants only receive the next contentdepending on whether they have received the previous content, in thecorrect order. The user then follows the hints given in each message toreach the final hotspot and win a prize. If a user is not at thebeginning of the quest, he may receive an invitation to participate withinstructions to carryout the first step of the sequence. Embodiments ofthe invention may include tasks such as finding specific goods in astore, finding a specific store inside a mall, discovering specialoffers and discounts, familiarizing themselves with the whole departmentof the store, etc.

One example of a Bluehunting activity may involve the use of additionalmedia in informing customers in a marketplace entrance area, such as amall main entrance, about a treasure hunt game. The additional media mayinclude holographic screens, posters, announcements, etc. When the useropts-in, the first clue is sent to their mobile from a hotspot. The cluewill lead them to their next place, where the next hotspot is located.The user will receive the next clue from that hotspot.

For example, the additional media may include a message on a mobilescreen, interactive display, poster or other display telling customersto “Activate your Bluetooth now! The Hunt is on!” The first clue may bea message on mobile consisting of two broadcasted items: a map of themall with a red spot, or other location indicator, and a message with aclue to the location of the next clue. For example, the message maystate, “Come And Find The Next Clue In Front Of The Cinema.” When theuser arrives at the outside the cinema entrance, the system, knowingthat the user did receive the first clue, transmits the next clue to thenext hotspot.

If the second stop is the final hotspot, the message may indicate thatis where the “treasure” is located. The message containing the secondclue, similarly to the first clue, may include a map of the mall with asecond red spot, or other location indicator, as well as a messagestating, “Come And Find The Final Clue In Front Of The Beauty Shop.”When the user arrives to the outside of the Beauty shop, the systemknows that they already have the two previous clues. The users havesuccessfully followed the designed route and they receive their reward.A message is sent to the user's mobile device stating, “Your hunt isover! Enter the Beauty shop. Display this message to the cashier and forevery Beauty product you buy—you get a second for free.”

One embodiment of the invention includes the use of interactive displayslocated at a kiosk or hotspot within a marketplace. In the illustrativeexamples above, when a user is progressing through the search contests,a hotspot or clue location may have an interactive screen with which theuser may obtain electronic content, prizes, coupons or other informationrelated to the campaign. In one embodiment electronic content, such asdigital music or video may be transmitted to a consumer's mobile devicewirelessly as the consumer interacts with the display.

While the embodiments described above utilize a Bluetooth manager andBluetooth wireless protocol to transmit data from a hotspot to a mobiledevice, one skilled in the art should recognize that any wirelesscommunication protocol, (SMS, MMS, Cellular, WiFi, WiMax, etc.) may beimplemented without deviating from the scope of the invention.

Further, while the activities described herein may include specificlanguage and text included in a transmission specific to a givencontest, one skilled in the art should recognize that the language usedand the specific details of the contests are merely illustrative andshould not limit the scope of the invention.

While the illustrative embodiments described herein have outlined anetwork interconnection in a particular manner, one skilled in the artshould recognize that, in general, networked intelligence of hotspotsmay allow for additional interconnection schemes and content pushing.For example, a scheme may include unique content transmission to allowfor unique coupons and multiple campaigns (different start and stopcampaign dates) for permanent hotspot installations.

Virtual World

According to another embodiment of the invention, the mobile marketingplatform may be used and integrated with a virtual world environment tofurther expand the reach of an advertising or marketing campaign. Withthe increasing popularity of virtual environments in the gaming andcomputing marketplace, such as Second Life, virtual worlds provide anadditional avenue of communication with audiences. According to oneembodiment, the creation of a virtual world activity is presented to theplatform user as an interactive wizard. The platform user specifies thegeneral details particular to the virtual world activity, such as thename, description, and the time period when the activity will be activewithin the start and end dates of the campaign with which it isassociated. The platform user sets up the virtual world to includefeatures such as, without limitation, the number of customers allowed toaccess the environment at the same time, the land size of the world, anoption to enable customers to create avatars or other symbolicrepresentations in the environment, and an option to enableVoice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) for real-time conversations or chatfunctionality among the consumer members. The platform user then selectsthe content to be made available to customers inside of the virtualworld. The activity interfaces with the Content Management System (CMS)to retrieve content dynamically from the CMS, similarly to the BluetoothManager described above. The user may select single items or entirefolders containing more than one item to be offered to a consumer uponcompletion of a task or series of tasks. Creation of the activity isfinalized and the selected content is published automatically by theCMS.

While the invention has been described with reference to illustrativeembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious other changes, omissions and/or additions may be made andsubstantial equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. In addition, manymodifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material tothe teachings of the invention without departing from the scope thereof.Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to theparticular embodiment disclosed for carrying out this invention, butthat the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scopeof the appended claims. Moreover, unless specifically stated any use ofthe terms first, second, etc. do not denote any order or importance, butrather the terms first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one elementfrom another.

APPENDIX A “Templates” Category Title Abstract Text to win Chose aConsumers vote on their favorite name of a product, name concept etc.from predefined list. Those that selected the winning name are enteredinto a draw for the top prize. The others are entered into a draw forsmaller prizes. Text to win Point pursuit Consumers text to win pointswhich equal entries to draws for different prizes. The more messagesthey send the more chances they have to win. Text to win TreasureConsumers text a keyword to win “hidden” points which hunt are entriesto draws to win physical prizes. Text to win Text first to Consumers areprompted to text a keyword and be the win first in the hour/minute toinstantly win a prize. Additional prizes can be given via draws. Text towin Every Nth Every nth consumer to text a keyword wins a prize. messageAdditional prizes can be given via draws. wins On pack Find theConsumers text unique codes found on pack. If the code is lucky codelucky the consumer wins the associated prize. On pack Play more,Consumers text unique codes found on pack to win entries win more todraws for different prizes. The more the codes they redeem the morechances they have to win. Everybody wins mobile content for each codethey send. An instant win mechanism can be added. On pack Choose yourConsumers text unique codes found on pack. For every prize code theysend they win a download from a WAP storefront and entries to draws towin physical prizes. An instant win mechanism can be added. On packReveal the Consumers text unique codes found on pack to reveal hidden“hidden” points which are entries to draws to win physical pointsprizes. Everybody wins mobile content instantly. An instant winmechanism can be added. On pack Be the first Consumers are prompted tosend a unique code found on to win pack first in the hour/minute toinstantly win a prize. Prizes may also be given via draws. On pack EveryNth Consumers are prompted to send a unique code found on code winspack. Prizes are awarded instantly on an “every nth” base and viascheduled draws. On pack Branded Consumers text a unique code found onpack to receive content free mobile content (videos, games, melodies,wallpapers and screensavers). On pack M-coins Consumers text a uniquecode found on pack to win virtual money (points). Points can be redeemedfor mobile content or other small prizes on a web site. On pack Text towin Consumers text a unique code found on pack to win mobile mobilecontent downloads. Participants download the content content from a WAPstorefront. On pack Text Consumers text unique codes found on pack toget back mobisodes the first part of a story. The following episodes aresent only if the consumer texts more codes. On pack Video Consumers textunique codes found on pack to get back mobisodes the first part of astory. The following episodes are sent only if the consumer texts morecodes. On pack Win every Consumers text unique codes found on pack towin entries hour to automated periodic draws. Every hour an automaticdraw is executed and the winner of the hour is resolved. Winners areautomatically informed. On pack King(s) of Consumers are prompted totext the more codes within the the day day. The top winner(s) win thedaily prizes. All participants enter draws for smaller prizes. On packThe first N The first N consumers that send a valid code found on packwin a prize. Loyalty Join to win! Consumers text basic demographic dataand register. Users enter draws to win physical prizes and digitalcontent as a reward for registering. C Pointmania Consumers opt-in to aloyalty club related to a brand/product. For every purchase they makethey win points. Points can be redeemed for different prizes. LoyaltyMobile Club Consumers are prompted to join a mobile club related to aproduct or a brand. Once they join they are invited to different events,they receive product news and/or promotions, etc. Members can downloaddigital prizes, take part in quizzes or games. Mobile m-couponsConsumers text a keyword to a shortcode. As a reply they Couponingreceive a coupon code or barcode coupon which they can then redeemin-store or via web/WAP. Mobile Discount Consumers opt-in to receivenotices for various product Couponing and Sales discounts and sales (e.gfrom a mall, super market etc). Notifications User Name it! Consumerstext the name of a product, a concept, etc. The Generated winningidea(s) win a prize. A committee chooses on the Content winners. Asecond round can expose the top X ideas to public voting. User Post yourConsumers text their opinion about sth. The text is posted Generatedmessage! in a billboard or a WEB site for a period of time. A Contentmoderation step is intervened. User Find the Consumers text a streetname and a city or a zip code. As Generated nearest a reply the get backthe location of the closest store or other point of interest. A visualcan also be sent (depending on handset capabilities). Location basedLucky store Consumers text a code found on pack to win entries to prizedraws. During the promotion all participants are prompted to visit the“lucky store” of the day. Within a lucky store special codes thatcorrespond to bonus points (multiple of the standard) are given forevery product purchase. Location based Photo Consumers send a photo anda zip code. The photo is used Mosaic to build a photo map. A moderationstep is intervened. Tips, Alerts Tip of the Consumers opt-in to receivea “themed” tip every day for day! a period of time. The theme of theevent is strongly associated with the brand, or with an ad concept.Tips, Alerts m-recipes Consumers opt in to receive the recipe of theday. Recipes always include as an ingredient the product in question.Recipes are delivered via SMS (short type, e.g. cocktails) or/and WAP.Tips, Alerts Sponsored Consumers text a city name and a state or an areacode to weather opt in to weather alerts. As a result they receivesponsored alerts. An ad text is included in every alert. Viral Send to aConsumers are prompted to invite friends to join the friend promotion.The more friends they invite the more are their chances to win the topprize. To invite a friend, participants text a keyword and theirfriend's phone numbers. If the invited friend joins the promotion theinvitee wins draw entries. Viral Snowball Consumers are prompted toinvite friends to join the promotion. To invite a friend, participantstext a keyword and their friend's phone numbers. If the invited friendjoins the promotion the invitee wins draw entries. All entries won by aparticipant are added to his invitee. Information Learn more Consumerstext a brand or product name to receive about . . . information aboutit. The info could be text and/or visual and is accessible via WAP orSMS/MMS. Information Call me! Consumers text “call” to request a callfrom a sales or customer care representative. Information Order aConsumers text their mail address to receive a product cataloguecatalogue in the mail. Information Join a Consumers text their e-mailaddress to subscribe to an e- newsletter mail newsletter.

1. A method for reserving a transaction comprising the steps of:offering a transaction over a mobile device communication link using amobile marketing device platform; receiving a response to the offer ofthe transaction by way of the mobile communication device link;generating a scanable identifier as a confirmation of receiving theresponse to the offer; and wirelessly transmitting the scanableidentifier over the mobile communication device link for processing by adecoding device as proof of confirmation.
 2. The method of claim 1wherein the offered transaction is the sale of a product or service. 3.The method of claim 1 wherein the offered transaction is the sale oftickets to an event.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the response tothe offered transaction is the purchase of a product or service.
 5. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the response to the offered transaction is thereservation of the ability to purchase of a product or service.
 6. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the response to the offered transaction is thepurchase of tickets to an event.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein thescanable identifier is a 2-D barcode.
 8. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising the step of pre-registering for notice of the transaction. 9.An apparatus for reserving a transaction over a mobile device linkcomprising: a mobile marketing platform comprising a transmitter foroffering a transaction over a communication link; and a barcodegenerator for generating a barcode as a confirmation of receiving theresponse to the offer; wherein the transmitter transmits the barcodeusing a wireless protocol and decoding of the barcode serves as proof ofconfirmation.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the barcode is a 2-Dbarcode.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising a mobile devicehaving a mobile device transmitter for responding to the offer of thetransaction.
 12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the bar code istransmitted as part of a SMS message.
 13. The apparatus of claim 9wherein the mobile marketing platform is linked to an electronicmarketplace, wherein the mobile marketing platform is configured toallow targeted audiences of a mobile advertising campaign to interactwith the electronic marketplace.
 14. A method for reserving a productfor future purchase, the method comprising transmitting a request for areservation to a mobile inventory reservation system using amobile-originated message; requesting the reservation from an inventorysystem for a user profile and the product; generating a reservationidentifier using the inventory system; combining the reservationidentifier and user profile information to create a mobile-terminatedmessage; and transmitting the mobile-terminated message to the consumer,the mobile-terminated message formatted such that it can be processedusing an optical reader.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein theBluetooth wireless technology is used to perform the transmission steps.16. The method of claim 14 wherein the mobile-terminated message isencrypted.
 17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step ofperforming a request for verification for the encrypted message to themobile inventory reservation system with additional user profileinformation.
 18. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step ofreturning an indication that the product has been successfully reserved.